A beautiful day for a ball game near a park turned tragic in Guelph on Tuesday, after a young high school student lost her life in an inexplicable accident.
Fourteen-year-old Isabel Warren, from Bishop Macdonnell High School, was in Larry Pearson Park at
25 Poppy Lane around 12:45pm taking part in a phys-ed class baseball game, when she stopped to use one of the restrooms.
For reasons that aren't yet known, one of the cinderblock walls in the facility suddenly gave way, burying her underneath. Her friends and eventually rescue crews rushed in to dig her out of the rubble and she was sped to Guelph General Hospital for treatment but it was too late. Warren, a gifted athlete, succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead in the ER.
Grief counsellors were sent to the school and an assembly was held to break the news. A memorial will be held there on Wednesday.
"They did everything that they could, they shouldn't have any regrets, and Isabel knows that they did everything they could to save her," friend
Caitlyn Reynolds said of the brave attempt by classmates to extract her from the rubble.
"She was always giggling and laughing and just making jokes and making everyone's day better."
A
Facebook page with memories of the teen has since sprung up, filled with loving memories of a life lost too soon. "Isabel will be greatly missed by everyone," a statement on the site reads. "She was young and full of energy. She was an amazing diver and had so much going for herself. She loved life and she will always be with us."
Warren was a member of the Etobicoke Diving Club, which is also feeling her loss. She was looking forward to competing in the Speedo Junior National Championships in Victoria in July.
An investigation into why the wall gave way has already begun. The Grade 9 student was the only one in the washroom at the time of the collapse. Another student eventually came in and spotted her.
"Losing a life at any time is terrible and losing a young life is even worse," said Sgt. Doug Pflug. And to be found by another student, I can't imagine what it would have been like for that person."
"It's a separate wall within the washroom itself and that wall collapsed, I don't' know what it was attached to, and that's what we're going to be looking at."