WATCH: Victims’ families and survivors of the Lakeland Mill explosions have been reliving the tragedy for over three and a half weeks. But now, B.C.’s chief coroner has put the inquest into the fatal blast on hold as the office vows to dig deeper to get answers. Catherine Urquhart reports.
PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. – The inquest into the fatal 2012 explosion at a Prince George, B.C., sawmill is being adjourned because of new information.
Inquest lawyer John Orr says in a news release that WorkSafeBC knew for at least two years about a separate investigation commissioned by the lawyers of Lakeland Mills.
The BC Coroners Service says it was unaware of that probe until it came up during questioning of the mill’s management at the inquest.
Orr says the information will have to be analyzed before an investigator from the Seattle forensic-engineering firm and witnesses for WorkSafeBC can testify.
The coroners service says the inquest will resume as soon as possible but has not specified a date.
Lakeland workers Alan Little and Glenn Roche died from the extensive burns they suffered in the April 2012 explosion that also injured 22 others in the sawmill at the time, many seriously.
Comments