‘He was a sunshine’: Bakery employee found dead in East Van rooftop parking lot collapse

After a 28-hour search of the rubble of a collapsed rooftop parking lot in East Vancouver, specialized teams have discovered the body of Ben Sotelo.

Family members confirmed Sotelo’s identity to Global News late Friday night and are looking for answers after the tragedy.

“He was a sunshine. Always smiling. This is not fair,” his brother Humberto Sotelo told Global News, adding he is now en route from Mexico City to Vancouver.

Sotelo had just turned 40 years old and was an employee at Gizella Pastry on Lougheed Highway, where the collapse occurred.

Vancouver rescue crews said a heavy urban search and rescue team worked overnight with disaster search dogs.

Eight other people have been rescued with two of them being sent to hospital with undetermined injuries. Ninety people were working at the bakery at the time of the collapse, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services said.

0:51 Rescue crews search for someone trapped in Vancouver building collapse

The incident happened after 1 p.m. on Thursday on Lougheed Highway between Rupert Street and Boundary Road.

Thousands of pounds of rubble collapsed onto Gizella Pastry on Lougheed Highway, according to Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services.

Officials said a Bobcat was conducting repairs on a rooftop parking lot when the roof collapsed into the office space of the bakery below.

“We’ve had a collapse of a rooftop parking lot onto an office building, probably about 30 foot by 40 foot, and we have crews trying to move some concrete debris,” Assistant Chief Dan Moberg said.

“There were eight people in a room beside the collapsed area and we rescued them or extracted them by breaching a window and taking them down one of our aerial ladders.”

Worksafe BC and Vancouver Police have taken over the investigation.

1:34 Vancouver parking roof collapse sends two to hospital