What was to be a short afternoon field trip for about 20 students and staff of a school in Bella Coola, B.C., became a scene of trauma and heroism when a grizzly bear attack badly injured four people, the Nuxalk Nation’s elected chief said Friday.

Thursday’s attack on the elementary class as they had lunch by a river triggered an outpouring of sympathy for the victims, surprise from experts at the bear’s behaviour, and praise for the teachers who drove it off.

It was a moment of “life and death,” said Chief Samuel Schooner, flanked by conservation and police officers at a news conference in the remote community about 700 kilometres northwest of Vancouver.

The severely injured victims were an adult and three children, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service said. Seven other people were tr

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