The male employee was reported missing and his body was recovered on July 15 after he was pronounced dead at the scene. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG
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Vancouver Fire Rescue Services said late Friday that a man’s body has been found at the scene of a building roof collapse Thursday on the Lougheed Freeway.
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The male employee was reported missing and his body was pulled from the wreckage, but he was pronounced dead at the scene just after 5 p.m., Trevor Connelly, assistant deputy chief of operations for the Vancouver Fire Department, said in a statement. Rescue crews had earlier tried to contact the missing man, but there had been no answer to the mobile phone or noises indicating a location. Two sniffer dogs were also brought in on Friday to locate areas where the man may have been. “This tragic workplace accident – where approximately 90 people were working at the time of the collapse, most of whom self-evacuated and eight who were rescued by the first arriving crews from VFRS and two who were taken to hospital with BCEHS – claimed the life of one member of our community,” Connelly said. “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.”
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The discovery came a day after a bobcat loader was moving one of two large piles of soil in the rooftop parking lot when the loader, soil and a piece of pavement about three meters by four meters collapsed onto the offices below. Cranes had to be brought in to remove the larger pieces of debris from the site of the collapse. Connelly said earlier Friday that the situation was very volatile and dangerous. The work was strenuous, physical and tiring, he said. About two dozen rescuers were at the scene Friday, including firefighters and crew members from Vancouver’s Heavy Civil Search and Rescue, a specialized team that responds to major structural collapses. WorkSafeBC, the agency that oversees worker safety in the province, has launched an investigation into the cause of the collapse, which has not been determined. With files from The Canadian Press Emergency services personnel investigate a parking garage roof collapse at a business on E. Broadway near Rupert Street in Vancouver, BC. Friday, July 15, 2022. The roof collapsed on Thursday afternoon, sending several people to the hospital. Photo by Jason Payne /PNG [email protected]
