CALGARY - In what's being called a tragic accident, an eight-year-old boy is in grave condition after he apparently became hung on a lanyard he wore around his neck at a Calgary-area school.

The incident occurred Wednesday at lunch hour when the Grade 3 student -- whose mother teaches at the school -- apparently fell in a washroom stall at Bearspaw School. A cord around his neck holding a hall pass caught on a door, say Sun sources.

The boy was discovered several minutes later by another student and efforts to revive him failed, said the source.

EMS spokesman Ryan Collyer confirmed crews went to the school at about noon to find a child unconscious.

He was taken to Alberta Children's Hospital.

The boy's mother, a kindergarten teacher, was there when her son was discovered, said a close friend of her family.

"She was there when it all happened, she was in the same wing he was in... she never wants to go back into that school," said the friend, who didn't want to be named.

"At all levels, this is life-changing, life-altering for them and tragic beyond words."

Word spread quickly throughout the school, said the friend, adding the last information she had was that the boy was on life support.

She described the boy -- the youngest of three children -- as "lovely, smart, intelligent, beautiful.

Family and friends, she said, are dismayed by rumours he tried to commit suicide.

"It's just a really, really freak incident," she said.

RCMP Cpl. Darrin Turnbull confirmed police were called to the school after a student was found in medical distress, adding police are investigating what occurred and plan to release more information Friday.