A grizzly bear has attacked a group of elementary school students and teachers in the B.C. central coast community of Bella Coola, leaving two people critically injured and two others seriously hurt.

B.C. Emergency Health Services said seven more people were treated at the scene of the attack in the community about 700 kilometres northwest of Vancouver, which was called in just before 2 p.m. on Thursday.

Veronica Schooner said her 10-year-old son Alvarez was in the Year 4-5 class that was attacked while on a walk and was so close to the animal "he even felt its fur."

"He was running for his life," she said.

Schooner said a lot of people tried to halt the attack but one male teacher “got the whole brunt of it” and was among the people taken by helicopter from the scene.

She added that

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