Man dies in hospital after being found under truck in Toronto

TORONTO – A man was pronounced dead in hospital Thursday after being found outside in west-end Toronto during an extreme cold weather alert.

The man, believed to be in his 50s, was taken to hospital in critical condition after he was found underneath a pickup truck Wednesday night (in the area of Dundas Street West and Dufferin Street).

Police say they were summoned to the man’s home around 10 p.m. for a medical distress call and found him outside. The temperature at the time was close to -30 C with the wind chill.

Firefighters remained at the hospital for more than seven hours, assisting hospital staff by performing CPR on the man, but officials say he was later pronounced dead.

READ MORE: Activists demand more shelter beds after man dies on street

There’s no immediate word on why the man was outside or if the freezing temperatures caused his death, but the incident follows the deaths of two men believed to be homeless who were found outside in sub-zero temperatures.

The deaths of those two men in separate incidents earlier this week prompted Toronto’s mayor to call for a review of the way the city operates shelters for homeless people.

The city has only two overnight warming centres for the homeless and they can only be open when Toronto’s chief medical officer of health issues an extreme cold weather alert.

Mayor John Tory said the city needs to fix the protocol that says extreme cold weather alerts can only be issued when the temperature is expected to fall below -15 C.

Such an alert was issued overnight Wednesday. Dr. David McKeown, Toronto’s medical officer of health, said it would end at noon Thursday.

But the city said the two 24-hour drop-in centres will remain open and other street outreach services will continue until further notice to ensure vulnerable people have a safe, warm place to stay.