Ottawa man camping with child dies after tree falls on tent at Mallorytown campsite

An Ottawa man in his 40s is dead and his 10-year-old child has been injured after a large tree fell on their tent in a Mallorytown, Ont., campsite, police say.

Emergency services responded to the campsite after receiving reports shortly after 6 a.m. Sunday, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said in a news release Monday evening.

Employees of the campground called police after the child came looking for help, OPP Const. Joey Mason said in an interview.

"We were able to confirm that the child's father was still in the tent and had actually been struck by this tree. There were no vital signs when [he was] assessed by EMS," he said.

The child sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries to her head, police said. The Office of the Chief Coroner will conduct a postmortem into the death.

"It's a tragedy," Mason said in an interview with CBC on Tuesday morning. "Our thoughts are with the family, the 10-year-old child who will have to live with those images of waking up and finding her father like that in the tent."

Company offers condolences

The incident happened at the 1000 Islands/Mallorytown KOA Holiday, about 60 kilometres east on Kingston, according to an email from the company.

"We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss that occurred at the campground and extend our most heartfelt condolences to the family affected," read a statement attributed to Mark Lemoine, KOA's senior vice-president of franchise operations.

"As we continue to assess the full extent of the damage, our focus remains on supporting our franchisee, staff, and the guests impacted by this devastating event."

A man and a woman who answered the phone at the park Tuesday declined to comment.

Lemoine's statement described the thunderstorm as a "severe microburst" that caused damage across the area.

Another camper who was at the same KOA over the weekend told CBC trees fell across the park and large branches littered the ground after the storm passed.

On Tuesday afternoon, one large tree could still be seen lying next to the main road into the campground.

Elsewhere in the region, rescuers responded to a remote corner of Algonquin Park to airlift a 13-year-old boy to hospital Sunday morning, after the tent he shared with his mother was also struck by a downed tree during the storm.