This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
Eleven people have been injured, including some critically and seriously, in the attack of a rogue grizzly bear on a group of elementary school students and teachers in Bella Coola, near Vancouver, Canada.
The injured were not immediately identified, but a report in the Daily Mail said two were left with critical injuries and two more with serious injuries.
The attack happened while the students were out on a walk near their school.
Veronica Schooner said her son, Alvarez, 10, was so close to the animal "he even felt its fur."
She told local reporters, "He was running for his life."
One teacher, a man, who was trying to deflect the grizzly, "got the whole brunt of it," and was taken from the scene by helicopter, she reported.
It happened at the Acwsalcta School Thursday.
"Paramedics provided emergency medical treatment to four patients and transported them to hospital," explained Brian Twaites, a health official.
Police corporal Madonna Saunderson described in the report the injuries as "very serious at the very least."
Officials have not revealed the ages of those who were injured, but Schooner told reporters that three children were among those with significant injures.
"He said that bear ran so close to him, but it was going after somebody else," she said, of her son.
"Everybody was in shock at the school. A lot of people were crying, and I don't know, I just wanted my son, and I grabbed him, and then I took him home," she said.
Authorities said the bear remained on the loose, but that officers remain on the scene, and were armed.
Officials said the school would be closed Friday.
