Raging winds tore through a church party in Montreal, lifting and tossing a bouncy castle that children were playing inside and mortally injuring a young girl, the provincial coroner’s office said on Tuesday.
The party on Sunday afternoon in Montreal’s southwest LaSalle borough took place under mostly cloudy skies, with scattered rain over parts of the city.
Environment Canada had issued a thunderstorm watch for the city as of noon that day, and issued a weather warning to the area about 30 minutes before the winds hit LaSalle. At their peak, the winds hit speeds of roughly 42 miles per hour, said Simon Legault, a government meteorologist.
They toppled over a tent at the block party and lofted the bouncy castle, 911 callers told Urgences-santé, the local emergency service, said Steve Mac Duff, an operations chief.
Emergency crews were called to a park not far from Madre Dei Cristiani church, which was holding the event as part of a Catholic liturgical holiday, the Feast of the Madonna, or the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Paramedics arrived on the scene at around 4:35 p.m., about six minutes after the 911 calls came in.
Seven adults and four children were injured, Mr. Mac Duff said. Six people, two of them children, were transported by ambulance to a hospital. The girl, who was 3, later died.
Jake Lamotta Granato, a spokesman with the Quebec coroner’s office, confirmed the child’s death in a statement on Tuesday. The office also announced that Martine Lachance, the coroner, would conduct an investigation and might issue recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.
“In LaSalle, we all know each other, whether closely or from afar,” Nancy Blanchet, the borough’s mayor, said in a statement posted on social media. “In moments like this, the entire community is deeply shaken and shares in your grief.”
Other children have also died after inflatable play toys become airborne. In 2024, strong winds launched a bounce house about 15 to 20 feet in the air, killing a 5-year-old boy in Maryland. That same year, a 2-year-old in Arizona died under similar circumstances.
