vancouver –
Crews working at the scene of a partial building collapse in Vancouver found the body of a missing male employee Friday night.
Vancouver Fire and Rescue said in a statement that the man was pulled from the wreckage but was pronounced dead by paramedics at the scene.
It culminated in a 28-hour rescue effort by crews from the fire department, city engineering staff, police, ambulance personnel and Vancouver’s Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Team, a specialized team that responds to major structural collapses.
“Their level of training and skill is what made this recovery possible as quickly as it did,” Vancouver Fire said of the collective effort to rescue the man buried in the debris.
Eight people were rescued from the building Thursday night, hours after the collapse, when a bobcat-style loader was moving large piles of dirt on the rooftop parking lot when it backed into the office space below.
Two people were taken to hospital.
The statement said about 90 people were working in the building at the time of the collapse and most of them were able to escape from the building.
“On behalf of our entire department and city, our thoughts are now with the officer’s family, friends and colleagues as they deal with this tragic loss,” the statement said.
A crane was brought in Thursday to remove giant cement slabs that fell into the building. A vacuum truck was used on Friday to remove debris and dirt from the site as they tried to find the man.
Trevor Connelly, assistant deputy chief of operations for the Vancouver Fire Department, said earlier Friday that the situation is very volatile and dangerous.
The work was grueling, physical and tiring, he said.
He said search teams are fairly confident the man was buried in the rubble based on eyewitness reports and the location of his cell phone.
Two search dogs that were brought to the scene were able to identify areas where crews could focus their search, he said.
The building is located between the Vancouver Metro SkyTrain line and the Lougheed Expressway, which was partially closed to traffic during the search.
SkyTrain continued to operate.
A view from the SkyTrain showed the large hole in the roof with piles of debris below, spilling onto the building’s parking lot.
Three cars parked in front of the office building were covered in construction material, crushed siding and cement.
The fire department says the scene will now be turned over to WorkSafeBC, the provincial worker safety agency, and Vancouver police to investigate the cause of the collapse.
WorkSafe has already said it has launched an investigation into the collapse.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 15, 2022.
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