Body recovered from North Vancouver construction site collapse

NORTH VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The body of a person killed Wednesday in a building collapse in North Vancouver has been recovered.

A structural collapse happened at 9:45 a.m. at the former Empire Theatres at Esplanade and Chesterfield avenues. The victim’s body was found in the debris but a special team had to be called in for recovery, as the scene was considered too dangerous.

“Our thoughts are with the family and workers at that site. It’s certainly a tragic event,” Asst. Chief David Boone with the The Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) Task Force said Thursday morning.

His team was able to find the body and remove it from the rubble around 7 p.m. Officials have not provided the identity of the deceased. Their injuries were described as catastrophic.

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Another person was hurt; their condition is described as stable.

Boone commends rescuers in getting to that person so quickly, considering the terrifying scene and debris. Boone says there was further collapse potential.

This is the second time this summer the special operations team has been called to a construction site tragedy. In July, the team was called to Kelowna to recover the body of a fifth man who was killed after a crane collapsed.

“We are a team made up of police, fire, paramedics, structural collapse engineers, emergency room physicians, as well as the City of Vancouver engineering division workers…It’s unfortunate that some of these services we provide are [recoveries] rather than rescues,” Boone said.

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The North Vancouver RCMP’s Serious Crimes section will look into the cause of the crash of the latest collapse.

“Investigators will be determining whether or not there was any criminality involved in the protocol and these types of situations, as is the protocol in these types of situations,” RCMP Sgt. Peter DeVries said.

He says it’s possible the investigation could uncover evidence of criminal negligence.

“As the investigation unfolds, if they do determine that there has been no criminality involved, then this will transition into a coroner’s investigation, in which they will examine the mechanisms and the causes of this person’s death, in partnership with WorkSafeBC,” he explained.

Streets surrounding the area are expected to be closed for some time as the construction site is still considered to be unstable.

With files from Denise Wong