(Vancouver) A large vacuum truck has been dispatched to the scene of a partial building collapse in Vancouver to help rescue teams searching for a missing person believed to be trapped under the rubble.
Updated yesterday at 6:15 p.m.
Vancouver Fire Department Rescue Assistant Deputy Chief of Operations Trevor Connelly said efforts are always focused on rescuing a missing person in the aftermath of the a small loader fell through a parking lot located on the roof of a commercial building.
Eight people were rescued from an office space on Thursday, including two injured victims who were in a dead end following the collapse.
According to Connelly, the vacuum truck will be used to suck up dust accumulated in the hole following the collapse that occurred Thursday afternoon in east Vancouver.
“It is a very unstable and dangerous situation, which requires meticulous, very physical and very exhausting work. The teams spent the night removing massive concrete debris in order to reach the bottom of the collapsed part,” the spokesperson explained.
Mr Connelly was unable to confirm whether the missing victim was still alive, but he assured rescue teams had good reason to believe another person was trapped under the rubble due to eyewitness accounts and cellular location data.
Two tracking dogs were called in as backup and were able to identify an area where it is believed the victim may be.
As for the surviving victims, Vancouver Fire Department Deputy Chief Dan Moberg said the eight people were in a room next to the collapsed area and crews used a ladder truck to reach a second story window and evacuate the trapped people.
Two of the victims were treated in hospital, but no details were given as to their condition.
Moberg says crews, including members of Vancouver’s specialist team who respond to major structural collapses, spent the night trying to move concrete debris from the search area.
Firefighters said a small loader was being used on the roof and drilling was underway on a section of the parking lot when the collapse occurred around 1 p.m. Thursday.
The loader and a piece of sidewalk approximately three by four meters fell from the parking lot into the offices below.
The area, which includes a major street next to the damaged building, remained closed early Friday.
WorkSafeBC, the agency that oversees worker safety in the province, says it has already opened an investigation into the cause of the collapse.