One dead in construction site collapse at Mississauga mall

One man is dead after a construction accident in Mississauga, Ont., pinned him beneath debris for nearly two hours on Monday.

Peel Regional Police say that the man was injured in an accident at the Sheridan Mall, on Erin Mills Parkway near the Queen Elizabeth Way.

It appears the construction worker was struck when steel scaffolding collapsed at the site shortly after 11 a.m. Reports suggest the man was pinned until the debris for about two hours before rescue efforts were able to move the debris enough to free him. He was confirmed dead by paramedics shortly after he was pulled free.

"We had to assess the area to make sure it was safe for our workers, for the firefighters to go in and start the extraction," Mississauga Fire Platoon Chief Mike Corcoran told reporters at the scene.

"Once we were the scene was safe for us to move it, it was a slow process to position air bags and cribbing (and) to move the material that had the worker trapped slowly."

Courier Greg Butry told The Mississauga News that he was on delivery inside the mall and was several metres away from the collapse. He told the news agency that he heard a "large boom".

"I heard the guy scream," he said. "All I saw was the steel coming down and I just ran out."

The collapse occurred in a section of the mall that was currently under construction, and expected to be home to a new Target store. CTV Kitchener's Nicole Lampa reports that the victim was a 33-year-old Kitchener man who was an employee of Vixman Construction.=

It is still not clear what caused the collapse. A Ministry of Labour representative was expected to visit the scene on Monday.