Police continue to investigate after a crane collapse killed four people and buried another in rubble in Kelowna on Monday (July 12).
During a media conference on Tuesday (July 13), Kelowna RCMP operations officer Adam MacIntosh released more information about the incident.
“Unfortunately, four individuals, all male adults, were located at the scene and had died as a result of the injuries from the crane having collapsed,” he said.
When the crane collapsed, it fell onto an adjacent building, which buried a fifth person in the wreckage. MacIntosh said that person remains unaccounted for and is presumed dead.
The RCMP is working with engineers to determine how to safely dismantle or secure the crane before attempting to recover the body.
“All next of kin have been notified, including the family of the individual believed to still be there.”
Another man was transported to hospital for treatment and has since been released.
MacIntosh said, with assistance from engineers, that the body of the missing individual can be recovered as early as Tuesday afternoon. Until the area is secured and the person’s body is recovered, the streets in the area will remain closed and evacuation orders will remain active. This means local state of emergency will continue until further notice.
Once the RCMP’s investigation is done, WorkSafeBC will take over the file.
Two fundraisers have launched in the wake of the incident, both for the families of workers who died. One of the fundraisers identifies one of the deceased as Jared Zook. Another identifies brothers Eric and Patrick Stemmer, who worked for the contractor Stemmer Construction Ltd., which operated the crane. Two other victims remain unidentified publicly.
READ MORE: Multiple deaths reported after ‘catastrophic’ crane collapse in Kelowna
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