A group of teenagers have been hailed as heroes after they rescued an eight-year-old boy who was hanging precariously from a chairlift at a ski resort in Canada.
The boy had slipped off the chairlift at Grouse Mountain, Vancouver, and was dangling 6 metres above the ground after his father managed to grab his arm just in time, the North Shore News reported.
James MacDonald, a 14-year-old who was skiing nearby, told Global News he saw the endangered child was "starting to flail about and get extremely panicked".
"[The father] was yelling for help. The kid's screaming and the dad's holding onto him by his hood and arm," he said.
As other bystanders watched, James said he asked a man to retrieve some orange netting being used to fence out-of-bounds areas, and he, some friends and other bystanders stretched it out as a makeshift net underneath the boy.
They also stripped padding off a nearby pole and placed it on top to further cushion the fall.
Meanwhile, 13-year-old Ethan Harvey said another of their friends urged the boy to stay calm, directed him to remove his skis, and then asked the father to trust the group of young rescuers.
The father let go, and the eight-year-old dropped safely into the makeshift net. The group cheered and high-fived.
A spokesperson for Grouse Mountain said in a statement the child was sent to hospital as a precautionary measure, CNN reported.
He was found to have no injuries.
The president of Grouse Mountain met privately with the group of five teenagers and two adults involved in the rescue, thanking them and rewarding them with complimentary "Grouse Hero" passes, season passes and jumpers, Global News reported.
One of the teens told CTV: "It was all over so quickly, but it was just … brilliant ideas all put together. We saved the kid that way."
The spokesperson said an investigation of the incident was underway, and "safety is our top priority".
