A 15-year-old boy is in hospital after falling from the abandoned Canada Malting Silos in Saint-Henri Monday afternoon.
“He fell down a hole from the 8th floor,” explained Benoit Martel, chief of operations of the Montreal fire department.
“It was a fall of about 20 feet.”
The teen was with two friends; one called 911 from the spot where the boy fell, and the other exited the building.
The 15-year-old was transported to the Montreal Children’s Hospital, where he is being treated for a broken collar bone, arm and leg.
“The firefighters had to climb up to the eighth floor, then down to the boy, then back up,” said Martel, who could not say what the boys were doing in the building.
Residents in the area argue the site is poorly secured.
“It’s also a place squatted by the homeless,” said Martin Grezak, who lives nearby.
“Police social service units have been seen there from time to time.”
He added that a lot of people sneak through the fence to get to the building.
“Kids use it to parcours or climb the structure,” he told Global News.
Resident Catherine D. says she always sees people climbing up into the abandoned factory.
“If you walk by the canal around dinner time, you’ll often see people crawling through holes in the fence,” she told Global News.
WATCH BELOW: The building owner speaks out.
The building’s owner, Steven Quon, told Global News he wants the building to be demolished.
He insisted he has a buyer ready to break ground, but the project is being held up by the city.
“There would have to be a zoning change and, to be honest, elected officials in this city are very reluctant to approve a project here,” he said.
“It’s controversial. It’s not a heritage, but it’s close to being a heritage building.”