Search and rescue workers believe they have located the area where one person remains trapped after part of a rooftop parking garage collapsed into the office space below in East Vancouver on Thursday.
Crews headed to an area of rubble on Friday after searching for the missing man overnight.
“We have a general idea of where they were last seen,” said Trevor Connelly, assistant chief of operations for Vancouver Fire and Rescue. “The sniffer dogs at the scene identified an area where we can focus our search … that’s what we’re doing now.”
Connolly said the team tried to make voice contact with the person but did not hear any responses or noises.
Crews carefully sifted through an unstable pile of concrete, dirt, drywall, electrical wires, metal conduit and other debris. A vacuum truck will arrive Friday in an effort to remove debris from the area, the chief added.
“There was a big pile of dirt in the parking lot when it collapsed and that big pile of dirt went into the hole with everything else,” Connelly said.
“The work is extremely, painstakingly slow.”
Pictured is a mess of debris inside a building on Lougheed Highway in Vancouver, a day after a parking deck collapsed into the space below. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Fire officials said the collapse occurred while a skid steer was working on the roof of the building on Lougheed Highway around 1 p.m. PT. The loader and its driver fell together with the roof, leaving a hole measuring about 9 by 12 meters.
Eight people were rescued from a second-floor office space on Thursday. Fire crews took them out a window and down a ladder, crews said.
Two of those people were taken to hospital. One of them has been confirmed as the truck driver, Connolly said.
An update on their terms was not immediately available.
People had a brief warning before the collapse: Asst
Officials said people in the building took a head count after the collapse and notified crews that one person was missing.
“[Crews are] ready to do whatever it takes today to find our missing person,” said Vancouver Fire and Rescue Chief Karen Fry. “There’s a family that’s missing a person and that’s where our thoughts are right now.”
A new team arrived on site Friday morning to replace the team that worked overnight. The Heavy Urban Search and Rescue Task Force, which specializes in complex industrial rescues, is also working on the search.
Pictured is a technician during the rescue operation on Friday. (Ben Nelms/CBC)
Besides the heavy machinery, Fry said crews have no other information about a possible cause.
“What we have been told is that they are working in this area and a [skid-steer loader] went through the building,” Fry said.
Connolly said debris began falling from the building in the moments before the collapse, so people inside had “short” warning before the roof came down.
Crews planned to work “indefinitely” until the person was found.
WorkSafeBC said an officer has been appointed to investigate the collapse.
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