Three people have been rescued after being trapped in a tunnel under construction in Ottawa.
WATCH: Emergency personnel respond to the scene where three workers were trapped in a “safe zone” when rebar and concrete fell down inside an Ottawa LRT tunnel. One of the workers was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
The accident was related to construction on the city’s new light-rail transit line. There was no damage to any surface infrastructure.
Councillor Mathieu Fleury said most of the crews got out without a problem, but three workers were briefly trapped in a “safe zone” underground and in contact with officials the entire time.
By 5:20 p.m., the workers were above ground and safe. Ottawa paramedics said one of them has a hand injury and the other two are uninjured.
The incident drew hundreds of curious onlookers from the nearby University of Ottawa.
The LRT construction was previously blamed for a massive sinkhole that opened on Rideau Street last spring.
READ MORE: Ottawa sinkhole filled, Rideau Street reopened
The intersection where Thursday’s incident occurred is also very near where a third incident linked to the LRT construction occurred in February 2014. That collapse happened overnight and stalled construction of the tunnel for a month. Nobody was hurt.
Construction on the new light rail line running through downtown Ottawa is expected to be completed in 2018.
Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson downplayed Thursday’s incident in a scrum with reporters. He pointed out that the Rideau sinkhole has not been definitively linked to the LRT work, and that the construction of any tunnel involves risk.
Watson thanked emergency responders for their quick action, and confirmed that Ontario’s Ministry of Labour has been called. No one will be allowed back onto the construction site until it has been cleared by ministry officials.
John Manconi, general manager of the transportation services department for the city, offered more details about the incident in a release.
“This was a minor construction incident when workers were applying concrete to the side wall of the tunnel near the East Portal. Some reinforcing steel came loose and was resting on the workers lift requiring them to seek assistance in lowering the lift safely. All of the workers are out of the tunnel, one with a minor injury to his hand.”
Watson said officials from the ministry will be on scene by 7 p.m.
“No work will take place in this tunnel until the ministry gives an all clear sign, we’ll have greater information within the next day or so as to what the exact cause was,” Watson said.
Police initially called the incident a tunnel collapse, but city officials were quick to clarify that while something collapsed inside the tunnel, it was not a true collapse.
WATCH: Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson responds to a question about a number of sinkholes that have appeared and says the Ministry of Labour will investigate what happened.