TORONTO – A construction worker died and five others were injured after building equipment collapsed at Toronto’s York University on Tuesday.
Dozens of emergency responders worked frantically to free the workers trapped under a toppled drilling rig at the site of the future York University subway station.
A 25-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. He was still buried in the debris when the last of the injured was removed late Tuesday afternoon. The victim’s name was not immediately released.
The injured included a man who was trapped in the twisted equipment and had to be extricated as a surgical team stood by in case amputation was needed.
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It was not. The man was pulled free and transferred to hospital in stable condition, police and emergency officials said.
Of the other four injured, one was taken to hospital in serious condition with multiple injuries.
No students were in the immediate area of the collapse but university officials said classes at Seymour Schulich Building were cancelled due to the accident.
There is no word on what caused the drilling rig to collapse. The Ministry of Labour has been called in to investigate.
Peter Macintyre, a spokesman for Toronto Emergency Medical Services, had little information about the patients on Tuesday. He said at least one of them was taken by air ambulance to Sunnybrook Hospital.
Although the construction site belongs to the Toronto Transit Commission, the work was being done by sub-contracted workers, said Brad Ross, a spokesman for the commission.
That means the contractor is ultimately responsible for the workers’ safety, Ross said.
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