Callum Steele, a husband and father from Nanoose Bay, has been identified by friends as the man who was electrocuted by power lines in a workplace accident in Parksville on Thursday.
Steele, 31, was repairing a downspout on a three-storey apartment building on Moilliet Street when he and his co-worker somehow came into contact with power lines.
Steele was pronounced dead at the scene while the other worker was airlifted to hospital.
An online appeal set up to support the family Steele leaves behind — his wife, Amanda, and two-year-old daughter Maddison — raised $13,420 by Friday night.
Steele was “a great family man” who never stopped talking about Maddison, always had a smile on his face and a willingness to lend a hand, said his friend DJ Hindle, a co-worker at Wilson Exteriors.
People at the company where Steele had worked for six or seven years are “devastated” by his death, Hindle said. “Callum was a big part of the company.”
The other worker involved in the accident is awaiting surgery for what Hindle describes as “two blown-out shoulders and exit wounds in his feet.”
Kelly Poppy wrote on Go Fund Me that the tragedy “stole one of the most beautiful souls from this planet” and has left behind a “heartbroken community.”
Steele grew up in Nanoose Bay.
Tributes poured out on social media for a man remembered as a mentor, friend and loving son.
Amanda’s sister, Ashley Bishop, wrote on Facebook: “My brother from another mother left us today. This guy has literally been a part of my life since forever,” she said, adding she still doesn’t believe the death is real.
“Yesterday a wife lost a loving husband, a 2 and a half year old lost a dedicated father, a sister lost an older brother and a mother and father lost a loving son. Until we meet again... rest in peace,” wrote Elliott Norton.
WorkSafe B.C. and the B.C. Coroners Service are investigating the death.
— with file from Katherine Dedyna
•The Go Fund Me page is at gofundme.com/steele-family-support
