Teen clinging to life after rollover in Stittsville

Police respond to a single-vehicle rollover on Fernbank Road in Stittsville Wednesday, July 11, 2012.

A teenager is in critical condition after being ejected from a van in southwest Ottawa Wednesday morning.

Ottawa paramedics said they were called to a single-vehicle rollover near Shea Road and Fernbank Road in Stittsville at 1:48 a.m.

They said they found the van in a cornfield and the teenaged boy about 20 metres away, suffering from a severe head injury and “life-threatening multiple systems trauma.”

He was in critical condition when he arrived at hospital.

"There is a 17-year-old boy who is clinging to life right now and we're not quite sure that he will come out of it," said J.P. Trottier with Ottawa paramedics.

"The extended period of time he was unconscious is not a good sign, that's why we had him in life-threatening condition."

The driver, his 38-year-old mother, managed to get herself out of the wreckage despite serious abdominal and spinal injuries.

She was taken to a west-end hospital in serious condition and was released later that morning.

The pair were delivering newspapers at the time of the crash, which then littered the crash scene along with bits of vehicle, sandals and paramedic tools.

The Ottawa Citizen is reporting the mother and son were filling in for the boy's father, who is out of the country.

Police had closed a section of Fernbank Road during their investigation but announced it was open again just after 8 a.m. Wednesday.

They said they don't yet know why the van rolled over, but driver error is a possible factor.

With a report from CTV Ottawa's Ellen Mauro