BLAINVILLE — The underground walls of a construction site north of Montreal collapsed on Tuesday morning, killing one worker and injuring two others.
Police in Blainville, Que., said they received a call around 11 a.m. after the underground walls of a commercial building under construction gave way. One worker was taken to hospital with a leg injury and another was treated on site.
Lt. Sara Tousignant said the collapse involved two underground retaining walls that fell inward. "We're talking about the north and northeast walls that collapsed on the workers at that moment," she said.
The victim was found deceased on site, she said. Police did not release additional information about the worker.
They say a person was also trapped in a mobile construction office that fell into the hole, but they were later rescued and treated for shock.
Photos from the site showed the large excavated hole partly filled with piles of wood and metal from the collapse. Excavators sat on the bottom, alongside three pickup trucks that were standing on end against the walls after tumbling over the edge.
Tousignant said there were about 20 workers on the site before the collapse, and that all had been accounted for.
Firefighters from Blainville and nearby Boisbriand responded to the collapse along with police officers. A spokesman for the regional ambulance service confirmed that it had sent four ambulances to the site, and that a person had been taken to hospital.
Quebec Labour Minister Jean Boulet issued a statement on X: "It is with sadness that I learn of the death of a worker in the collapse of a structure in Blainville. I offer my sympathies to their loved ones and colleagues, and I am also thinking of the injured workers."
He said the province's workplace safety board and the agency that enforces the construction code will investigate what happened.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 20, 2025.
The Canadian Press
