3-year-old boy killed by tree in B.C. Parks campground identified

The three-year-old boy who was killed in an accident involving a tree in Okanagan Lake Provincial Park near Summerland, B.C., on Saturday has been identified as Kash Bakker by a friend speaking on behalf of the child's family.

"[He was] such a beautiful, sweet little boy — just a few months younger than my daughter. Such a kind-hearted, gentle boy," said Ruveen Stogryn, a family friend who was camping with the Bakkers at the time of the accident. "Some of the things people have been saying about him is he was charismatic and a spark plug."

Photos of Bakker, taken by Stogryn at the campground before the accident, show him sharing a big smile and playing by the lake shore with blond hair falling down to his eyes.

He was the youngest of four brothers, and lived with his family in the Lower Mainland, according to Stogryn.

On Saturday, Bakker was hit by a falling tree at the campground on Okanagan Lake, between Peachland and Summerland, according to a statement from B.C. Parks.

The statement, which didn't identify him, said he died of his injuries later in hospital.

Stogryn says the accident was caused by a rotten tree at the family's campsite that was uprooted and fell on Bakker, according to his family.

She described it as a "freak accident," and said she's still trying to understand what happened.

"I've worked in emergency rooms, I've dealt with some traumas," she said. "But this was the absolute worst, the most trauma, complete chaos — absolutely devastating situation.

"The humanity I saw that day, in the people that all helped us at the campsite, there were lots of people there really trying to help physically and emotionally in so many ways," said Stogryn.

Stogryn said she started a fundraiser to help support Kash Bakker's parents, Keith and Skye Bakker, as Keith is the sole income-earner and they need time to heal.

"They're devastated, they're shattered. They're how you can imagine and probably worse," she said. "They did not deserve this."

On Thursday, a spokesperson with the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, which handles media requests for B.C. Parks, said the fatal incident was still being investigated and declined to offer any updates.