A 6-year-old girl hit by a bulldozer in the Happy Valley-Goose Bay dump is “very lucky” but still facing months of recovery, says the band chief in Sheshatshiu.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Chief Eugene Hart said when he arrived on the scene on Saturday, April 30, just after paramedics and other first responders.
The young girl, who is from Sheshatshiu, had been with her mother at the central Labrador landfill when she was struck by a track loader- a piece of equipment used to move trash around.
Hart and the victim’s mom got aboard his truck and followed the ambulance that carried the 6-year-old to the Labrador Health Centre in HVGB.
Hart said the young girl has been taken to St. John’s by air ambulance and has undergone surgery.
According to the chief she has a long road to recovery ahead of her.
“A good two, three months,” he said.
Hart said the incident is still under investigation by both the RCMP and the landfill.
The town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay declined to speak with CBC News, but did put out a release saying the dump will reopen to commercial traffic starting Tuesday, but remains closed to residential trash for now.
Files courtesy of cbc.ca.