A man died after the ground floor of the building he was in partially collapsed late Saturday afternoon in the Montreal-North neighborhood.
Our teams found one victim, a man, at 10:15 p.m., Marie-Ève Beausoleil, spokesperson for the Montreal Fire Safety Service (SIM), stated in a message sent to Radio-Canada. Urgence Santé paramedics unfortunately confirmed the death on site. The remainder was handed over to the SPVM because there was a death and to the CNESST because renovations were underway.
Urgence santé previously confirmed at around 9:30 p.m. that two people had been transported to hospital, two refused to be transported and one was still trapped under the rubble.
However, the number of people who were in the building at the time of the collapse is not yet known.
In the early evening, two people emerged from the rubble
Emergency services were reportedly contacted just before 4 p.m.
Two people trapped under the rubble were freed from the building early in the evening, SIM department head Martin Guilbault confirmed.
Both people were injured but were conscious. They were taken to hospital by Urgences santé paramedics.
It was not possible to determine their condition or the severity of their injuries.
After the two victims exited the building, SIM’s technical rescue group worked to secure the scene, Mr. Guilbault said.
A witness who worked at a neighboring store, Dominique Chartier, went to the basement of the building after hearing a loud bang.
I went into the basement to see what was going on and to help people. It screamed. Some were trapped under a concrete slab, he revealed in an interview with Radio-Canada. In the darkness of the rubble he heard a second victim. The exchange between the victims took place in Spanish, he added.
He stayed with them for a good ten minutes, waiting for help.
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The technical rescue group arrived on site late Saturday.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Benoit Gagnon
The collapse of a slab in question
The collapse is not visible from the outside, emphasizes the chef. It is a slab that has collapsed, but it is still too early to know the exact reason. “Our work will focus on securing the building and making sure everything is stable,” Mr Guilbault said.
There were commercial businesses on the ground floor of the building and around twenty residential units on the upper floors. According to our information, half of these rear houses were occupied and were evacuated.
The firefighters must first stabilize the concrete slab so that an engineer can enter and assess the situation, says the head of the SIM department, Marie-Ève Beausoleil. Once the crime scene is secured, the search can continue.
Residents and businesses that use the back of the building can then re-enter. The front part of the building sat empty for more than a year after a fire caused damage.
What we currently know is that there was a fire on the ground floor about a year or two ago. […] Since then, the part further west has been barricaded [pour y réaliser des travaux]said the borough’s mayor, Christine Black, in an interview with Radio-Canada.
“Of course I was shocked because things were going well for us in the area,” said Ms Black, thanking emergency services for the speed of their response.
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Part of the building had been barricaded since the fire there a year ago.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Benoit Gagnon
Scope and investigation
Police are on site to divert car traffic and curious people between Maurice-Duplessis and Pascal streets.
It is still too early to determine the cause of the collapse, the SIM spokesman said in an interview with Radio-Canada.
These answers will be available once the rescue operation is completed and the necessary checks have been carried out, he continued.
The SIM spokesman said late in the afternoon that security in the sector should be maintained for a few more hours.
With information from Élyse Allard and The Canadian Press