UPDATE: As of Thursday morning, the one person who suffered serious injuries was upgraded to stable condition.
A horse-drawn carriage tipped over with passengers on board at Fort Edmonton Park on Wednesday, sending six people to hospital.
Alberta Health Services confirmed all of the victims are adults and one suffered serious injuries while the rest are in stable condition. Three ambulances responded to the scene shortly before noon.
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) was called to the scene and was investigating as of 3:30 p.m. OHS said a woman in her 20s, who was riding the horses, was one of the six taken to hospital. They said she works for Fort Edmonton Park.
The extent of her injuries is unknown.
So far, OHS has not issued any orders in relation to the incident, but Fort Edmonton Park has voluntarily suspended all animal-related activities in the park pending the completion of the investigation.
Two horses were involved in the crash. They are currently being monitored.
The park’s CEO, Darren Dalgleish, said this is the first incident involving animals that he can recall.
Speaking of the carriage, Dalgliesh said, “I would imagine it can seat between eight and 12 passengers, depending on who they are. It’s an old-fashioned carriage that has benches on each side and you face each other towards the centre.”
READ MORE: No injuries after horse-drawn buggy rolls in Ontario: police
Dalgleish said he didn’t want to speculate about what may have caused the crash.
“Immediately when this happened, the park staff called a code and all of the incident responders went to their park to guide first responders into the park. The fort is really deep into the park.”
The area around the carriage, which was lying on its side, was taped off as investigators placed markers on the dirt road beside it.
The OHS investigation will try to determine exactly what happened and whether all safety precautions were followed. There is no timeline for when it will be completed.
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