NORTH VANCOUVER — One person has died and another is in hospital after a building under demolition in North Vancouver had a structural failure, causing parts of the building to collapse.
Sgt. Peter DeVries, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman, said police received a call around 9:45 a.m. Wednesday of a construction incident.
DeVries said the building, the former Cineplex Esplanade site, which is under demolition, “had a structural failure of some sort.”
“We’re not entirely sure what happened, but there was a collapse of either some equipment or some part of the building,” he said.
North Vancouver RCMP attended the scene along with North Vancouver City Fire Department and B.C. Ambulance Service.
DeVries said firefighters determined one person was trapped in the rubble during the collapse and had died as a result of catastrophic injuries.
“The fire department was able to determine to a high degree that this person is deceased; however, they’re not able to bring the body out of the rubble because it is not safe to do so yet,” he said, adding that it is a very dangerous site.
He said once the scene has been rendered safe, the B.C. Coroners Service will make an official confirmation of death.
DeVries confirmed that one other person had been injured and had been taken to Lions Gate Hospital. He said their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
Greg Shalk, chief of North Vancouver City Fire Department, said the Can-TF1 heavy urban search and rescue task force from Vancouver Fire Rescue Services was required to assist with the next phase of the operation.
“We need to use their expertise to determine the structural stability of the site and then to help lead with the recovery operations for the deceased worker,” he said.
Shalk said the worker who is in hospital was operating machinery when the collapse occurred and was pulled out by fire crews.
“At this point in time, we believe that everyone else has been accounted for,” he said.
North Vancouver RCMP’s Serious Crime investigators have taken over the investigation to determine whether there was any criminality involved in the collapse.
“As this is an ongoing investigation, no further details will be provided,” DeVries said.
In a post to Twitter, the North Vancouver RCMP said their “thoughts and hearts are with family and friends” of those involved.
WorkSafe B.C. has also launched an investigation into the incident.
“A prevention officer was assigned to the incident and is attending the scene,” said Samantha Pinto, a spokeswoman for WorkSafe B.C.
“The purpose of an investigation is to identify the cause of the incident, including any contributing factors, so that similar incidents can be prevented from happening in the future.”
’I literally felt my apartment shake’
Residents in the buildings next door took to social media saying they felt the impact of the collapse this morning.
“Holy crap. I’m in the building next door and felt things shake,” wrote Becky Knight.
Per Christensen, who lives across from Chesterfield Avenue, said he was having his morning coffee on his balcony when he witnessed part of the building crumble.
“There was a big Caterpillar [tractor] working from the second level, the mezzanine or the second floor of the building, and it was working as usual trying to demolish the wall with the help of this machinery,” he said.
He said he had seen two people working at the site, the Caterpillar operator and another worker spraying down the dust from the concrete.
“I think I had been watching for about 20 minutes or something like that with my coffee and then it happened — the floor just collapsed and the whole thing sank down, and they [two workers] disappeared into all the debris,” Christensen said.
He said it was a shock to see, having been watching the demolition for months now.
“It was an unexpected thing to happen,” he said. “There was obviously a crash sound. It sounded like it happened all at once.”
North Vancouver Mayor Linda Buchanan shared her condolences on Twitter, saying the incident was a “tragedy for our community.”
“Everyone who goes to work has the right to come home to their loved ones each night,” she wrote.
“Today’s events are a tragedy for our community, and an unimaginable loss for the family and friends of the worker who died.”
