“We are torn apart,” the victim’s older brother, Humberto Sotelo, said Sunday. “We just came yesterday from Mexico to retrieve my brother.” Humberto Sotelo said Benjamin loved to travel and was living his dream in Canada with his husband after becoming a Canadian citizen. Benjamin Sotelo’s body was recovered around 5:45 Friday afternoon, after a two-day search. Sotelo said his brother was the regional human resources manager for Gizella Pastry, a business at the site of the parking lot collapse. He lived in BC. for about six years, his brother said. WorkSafeBC is investigating what caused the workplace fatality. Around 50 people took part in a search operation which saw another eight people pulled safely from the building. Technicians are pictured during a rescue operation Friday, the day after a parking lot collapsed at a business on Lougheed Highway in Vancouver. (Ben Nelms/CBC) Fire officials said the collapse occurred while a skid steer loader was working on the roof of the building on Lougheed Highway around 1 p.m. Thursday. The loader and its driver fell with the roof, leaving a hole measuring about nine by 12 meters. Two of the eight people rescued were taken to hospital. One of them has been confirmed as the truck driver, fire spokesman Trevor Connelly said. Other than the heavy machinery, crews have no other information on a possible cause, said Karen Fry, chief of Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services. “That’s what they told us, that they were working in this area and a [skid-steer loader] went through the building,” Fry said. A mess of debris is pictured inside the building on Lougheed Highway in Vancouver, the day after a parking lot collapsed on the lot below. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
“Hard to accept”
Humberto Sotelo said his brother had many friends and enjoyed visiting restaurants during his travels. “Our phone is full of messages from his friends,” she said. “I appreciate all the calls, all the messages.” “I want to say thank you to the rescuers, to all the firefighters, to all the police who worked to save my brother,” he added. “The first few hours were very difficult, but we appreciate the work they did.” Sotelo said the family is working on next steps with the medical examiner, but hopes to get answers and accountability about Benjamin’s death and the condition of the collapsed building. “He was always smiling,” she said. “We want to know who is responsible for this. We want to know why this happened.” “It’s so hard for us, so hard to accept.”
