'Fairly emotional for everybody': Teen struck by LRT visits emergency crews who rescued him
'Fairly emotional for everybody': Teen struck by LRT visits emergency crews who rescued him
Several weeks after a teen was stuck under an LRT train in Kitchener, he’s now up and walking.
Around 2:30 in the afternoon on Wednesday March 8, Keelan Zondervan, 16, was struck by an LRT train and became trapped underneath it. It happened near Cameron Heights Collegiate Institute.
Officials at the site of an LRT crash involving a pedestrian in Kitchener on March 8. (Krista Simpson/CTV News Kitchener)
Fire crews were on scene within four minutes, using jacks and cribbing to lift the train.
"We initially had somebody under the train, a firefighter. Then once paramedics got there, there was a paramedic underneath the train. They started an IV and did a number of other items. We were in charge of the lifting portion," Tom O’Hara, the Public Education Officer for Kitchener Fire said.
Emergency crews with police, fire, and paramedics all worked together to help get the teen out.
"The emotions get pushed into a very small corner of your mind and your training just takes over," O’Hara said.
Zondervan was airlifted to Hamilton General Hospital, and was on life support. The teen is now recovering at home, using a walker for support.
"Very happy. The outcome was very positive. I would say, probably the best case scenario for that type of accident with an LRT train," O’Hara said.
On Friday, Zondervan visited some of the officials who helped rescue him.
"It was fairly emotional for everybody. Especially the parents and the young man. But in our eyes it's great to see, because lots of times we don't learn the outcomes of a lot of the people that we tend to," O’Hara said.
According to O’Hara, the chance to talk with the boy has meant a lot to the first responders.
"On average, because it's such a large piece of machinery, the outcomes are not always positive. It was great for us to see. So we train with the LRT every single year to keep our skills as high as we can, for these exact scenarios," O’Hara said.
Waterloo regional police said there is no update in the ongoing investigation into the crash.
Fire officials want to remind residents to be careful around LRT tracks, saying pedestrians should wait until the train passes before they walk across.
Canada's special rapporteur on foreign interference David Johnston calls the allegations swirling around his objectivity 'quite simply false,' and said Tuesday he plans to push ahead with his work, launching public hearings next month
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should see to it that mass murderers serve their entire sentences in maximum-security prison.
The number of interactions between killer whales and humans has increased alarmingly in recent years. CTVNews.ca asked an expert to explain the reasons behind the increase in interactions, explore the types of encounters, and examine the implications for both humans and killer whales.
The PGA Tour ended its expensive fight with Saudi Arabia's golf venture and now is joining forces with it, making a stunning announcement Tuesday of a merger that creates a commercial operation with the Public Investment Fund and the European tour.
Across Canada, the average price of rent climbed back up after pandemic lows, with the monthly rate new tenants face now 20 per cent higher than it was two years ago, according to just-released rental data.
While the Liberals insist a Pacific Rim trade bloc should welcome anyone who meets its standards, an internal document suggests Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants China kept out.
The federal government has given an updated deal to a public-service union that signed its collective agreement in the fall in order to match deals reached with the Public Service Alliance of Canada during a strike this spring.
Prince Harry entered a courtroom witness box Tuesday, swearing to tell the truth in testimony against a tabloid publisher he accuses of phone hacking and other unlawful snooping.
Canada's emergency preparedness minister says images of wildfires burning across the country are some of the most severe ever witnessed in Canada and the current forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
Marking the two year anniversary of the alleged terror attack that took the lives of four members of the same family, the board has announced an Anti-Islamophobia Strategy.
On this day in 2021, four out of five members of a London, Ont. family were killed while they were out for a walk and struck by a vehicle, in an apparently deliberate attack.
An investigation is underway after a crash between a car and a transport truck on Tuesday morning. It happened around 9 a.m. on Highbury Avenue near Ron McNeil Line, north of St. Thomas.
Police in Barrie say another unsanctioned truck rally held in the city's north end over the weekend drew hundreds of participants and onlookers in a "chaotic scene of disrespect and total disregard for private property."
While firefighters get more forest fires under control in northern Ontario, travel restrictions declared under an emergency order are being expanded in several communities.
A 13-year-old male from Elliot Lake in northern Ontario has been charged with sexual assault again, bringing the total to 10, after another survivor came forward.
A grieving widow whose husband was run over and killed by a speeding OPP officer can't believe the force told her it won't hold a public hearing into the case because it decided the misconduct was 'not serious.'
A special air quality statement remains in effect for the National Capital Region because of wildfire smoke blowing across the region. Environment Canada's air quality health index is at its highest level of risk.
The wildfire burning at Centennial Lake, about 150 km west of Ottawa is still not under control, but the local mayor says it has been significantly reduced.
The federal government has given an updated deal to a public-service union that signed its collective agreement in the fall in order to match deals reached with the Public Service Alliance of Canada during a strike this spring.
The actions of the teen who repeatedly slashed a North York massage parlour receptionist 42 times with a sword, killing her and injuring her manager, were an act of terrorism, an Ontario Superior Court Justice found Monday in a 'historical' decision in Canada.
The smell of smoke is in the air throughout the city of Toronto and could get worse before the week is over as wildfires continue to burn in Quebec and northern Ontario.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on the correctional services commissioner to “step aside, step down, or [..] be fired” after moving serial killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison.
One Quebec city that had been threatened by approaching wildfires has lifted an evacuation order, but other parts of the province continue to deal with out-of-control blazes that are taxing firefighting resources.
Insurance industry group Equite Association says vehicle theft in multiple provinces surged last year. Vehicle theft was up by 50 per cent in Quebec year over year, by 48.3 per cent in Ontario, by 34.5 per cent in Atlantic Canada and by 18.3 per cent in Alberta.
Montrealers woke up to hazy sun and smoky skies again Tuesday morning. Northerly winds from wildfires burning north of the city continue to blow smoke into Southern Quebec.
Firefighters battling the 25,000-hectare Shelburne wildfire say the wet weather has helped crews directly attack the blaze, now they’re hoping for a break in the rain.
Hammonds Plains Road reopened to traffic early Tuesday morning more than week after wildfires began in the Halifax area. Officials say the fires in the area are contained, though crews continue to deal with hot spots and flare ups.
Canada's emergency preparedness minister says images of wildfires burning across the country are some of the most severe ever witnessed in Canada and the current forecast for the next few months indicates the potential for continued higher-than-normal fire activity.
A Ukrainian woman who now lives in Winnipeg is hoping one day she will be able to bring her husband's remains to her new home, a place he hoped one day he too would be able to call home.
Calgary-based Cenovus Energy says it has safely restarted a portion of its production that was shut down because of the threat of wildfires in northern and central Alberta.
Innisfail RCMP say an officer was attacked by the driver and passenger of a truck they'd stopped on suspicion of impaired driving on Saturday, but the accused's lawyer has a different story of the encounter.
Police in Australia are investigating the suspicious death of a woman who used to live in Surrey, BC, after her body was found in her apartment on the outskirts of Sydney.
Mounties in the town of McLennan, Alta. are hoping members of the public can help them identify two men who tried to steal a bank machine from the local ATB Financial.
A B.C. woman has agreed to cancel her nursing registration for at least 18 months after failing to provide round-the-clock care for a patient with “significant” needs.
The provincial wildfire service is warning British Columbians to have a go-bag and make an evacuation plan with this year's wildfire season off to an alarming start.
Officials at the site of an LRT crash involving a pedestrian in Kitchener on March 8. (Krista Simpson/CTV News Kitchener)
