CALGARY -- One man was flown to hospital in critical condition Sunday after receiving a severe electric shock while launching model rockets east of Calgary.

Shortly before 10 a.m., emergency crews from Strathmore were called to an area north of the town where a group of people were launching model rockets.

When one of the rockets became stuck in a power line, a 48-year-old man from Calgary tried to retrieve it and was zapped, said Kevin Link, spokesman for Wheatland EMS.

“He set up a 24-foot ladder and climbed up to retrieve it and he tried to knock the rocket out with a pole or a stick and got electrocuted and fell to the ground,” he said.

“Whether he touched the line or the pole touched the line or the electricity arced we’re not sure, but he was electrocuted.”

When paramedics arrived, the man was in cardiac arrest and bystanders were giving him CPR.

He was revived and taken to hospital in Strathmore by ground ambulance before being flown to Foothills by STARS in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.

Link said the incident is another reminder to people to avoid activity around power lines.

“You want to stay away from power lines — it’s common sense we learn as a child,” he said.

Link said the man was not known to the other people in the group.

A second man was injured in the incident, but treated at hospital in Strathmore before being released.

Also Sunday, STARS flew a 26-year-old man to Foothills hospital in stable condition after a motorbike accident east of Cochrane, said spokesman Cam Heke.