Mona Vale Public School: Boy, 9, fights for life after fall
Counselling is being offered to staff and students at a Sydney primary school after a tragic schoolyard accident left a boy, 9, fighting for his life.
Manly
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Counselling is being offered to staff and children at a Sydney primary school after a tragic schoolyard incident on Monday left a nine-year-old boy fighting for his life.
The boy was running in the playground at Mona Vale Public School, on the northern beaches, when he is understood to have tripped over a tree root “falling on his head”, causing him to go into cardiac arrest.
Multiple emergency services were on the scene and gave lifesaving treatment before he was airlifted to hospital.
A spokesman for NSW Department of Education said the student was injured “while playing at school” and counselling support was available for those affected by the tragic incident.
“The student was not on play equipment at the time of the incident,” the spokesman said.
“He was running down a sloping area of the playground.
“Counselling support is available for students and staff.”
Northern Beaches Duty Officer Insp Jill Walters told the Manly Daily the Year 3 boy was running when he tripped over a tree root and banged his head.
Paramedics, police and the CareFlight helicopter went to Mona Vale Public School on
Waratah St, Mona Vale around 11.20am on Monday after reports a boy had fallen.
The child, understood by the Manly Daily to be a part of the school’s special needs program, suffered serious head injuries and went into cardiac arrest.
Paramedics tried to revive him with a defibrillator before he was airlifted to Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick.
Four crews from NSW Ambulance helped look after the boy including specialist doctors and critical response crews.
A spokesman for CareFlight said they had scant details of the fall other than the boy “fell on his head”.
Crowds gathered on Waratah St where there was a huge police presence with more than 10 crews attending the incident.
Meanwhile, the school sent out a message to parents not to come to school.
It said there had been an accident and the parents of the child had been notified.
Virgina Piper, who works nearby, said she knew something serious had happened.
“I heard the ambulances and the police cars come by. You could hear the chopper, it sounded very close before landing at the school,” she said.
“People were driving slowly by the school and you could definitely tell something serious had happened.”
An up-to-date condition check was unavailable on Monday evening.
