A 19-year-old construction worker has died in a house collapse in north Toronto, Toronto fire services confirm.
Emergency crews were called to the two-storey home, located on Brookdale Avenue, around 2 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon after two workers became trapped under rubble of the collapsed house.
Crews were able to free and stabilize one of the trapped workers, but the other was determined to be deceased. According to Toronto EMS, a monitor was placed on him to check his vital signs.
“One of them was pinned by a beam which we managed to move with air bags. We were able to get close enough to him to get airbags under the beam and lift them of his legs,” Toronto Fire Division Commander Bob O’Hallaran told reporters on scene of the incident.
“We were able to lift a lot of material off by hand and when we did that we were able to dig down close enough to him that the paramedics were able to get a monitor on him and determine he was deceased,” O’Hallaran said.
A total of four construction workers were digging up the basement of the home at the time of the collapse. Two other construction workers who were outside the house suffered minor injuries.
At the peak of the rescue, there were 11 fire trucks and 45 firefighters on scene of the incident.
The Ministry of Labour is investigating the incident.
