Ajax: Drone view of trench rescue with two missing workers 8-8-2022

Everyone is holding their breath at this time as emergency crews are currently attempting to dig out two trapped workers in Ajax, Ontario, Canada. An ongoing rescue operation has been underway since noon and as of 9h pm tonight the two men are still missing after an excavation construction site collapsed on them. Two other victims were freed and transported to hospital, one via air ambulance and are expected to survive. Heavy equipment brought in mutual aid by Toronto Fire Services include specialized vehicles and tools for entrapment and recovery. Among other things, an industrial pump was used late this afternoon to help emergency rescuers remove excess dirt and debris in a bid to recover the missing parties. 

Update: The bodies of the two missing buried victims were found and recovered at 2h30 am on Tuesday morning, about 14 hours into the start of the incident. They were recovered at 2h30 am yesterday morning by emergency crews who had been on scene conducting a heavy trench rescue for over 14 hours prior to the discovery. An investigation has been launched into the work related deaths that also left two additional workers hurt with non life-threatening injuries. As of today, Tuesday August 10th a perimeter around the scene of the tragic accident is still being held while engineers and investigators from the Ministry of Labour are gathering evidence and testimony. Despite very few information being available to the public like the identity of the two victims, they declared that the workers were employed by a company called "Direct Undeground Inc." and that the construction site at the corner of Rossland Road and Westney Road was operated by a company called Grascan Construction Ltd.

[jasodonnell]

my man time for another drone fine Pascal we love you here at Transport Canada you give us good money and donations

[larrymacdonald]

Over 10, 000 dollars an hour... just because someone did not take the time to do the job properly.... over 30 years heavy equipment and no one has ever been hurt in one of my excavations.

[suzieq]

A friend of mine, this happened to her husband in his own yard, it was terrible he didn't survive..

[fd]

This video was taken well after 4:00pm, when Toronto Fire arrived. Their apparatus are visible in this video. At 1:30pm, I witnessed a drone hovering over the site and it did delay ORNGE Bandage 1 from departing. It was probably someone else's drone, and not the 4K guy.

[theenigma]

Just drove by around mid night I heard a loud machine going I don’t know what it was everything was blocked off and out of respect I kept my distance but they’re still trapped

[marcwaters]

Sad day, hope from this new precautions are enabled...

[Cristoforo]

All trenches deeper than 4 feet MUST be held up with shoring, either hydraulic actuated plates, or a series of heavy duty timbers constructed on site. This is a common and lazy failure to protect workers and the company should be sued out of existence, and its owners imprisoned.

[mikeleo]

This is to all the people questioning the rescue operation from someone whos been in this business for over 40 years - the 2 that wer burried wer probably dead within seconds - 5 meters of earth falling on u ? Crushed and suffocated within seconds - people will go to jail over this

[FLIPPER]

Wonder how long they have been buried 😢😔🙏

[justinsane]

I’m wondering if they pay to have on-site safety ? Obviously not … our safety guys are boots on the ground and stop almost everything before it happens. If we have to go to court our safety reps have the paperwork to save you from liability .. being safe is a choice.. you don’t make after the fact

[Cristoforo]

One rescuer shovelling manually is not a rescue operation, unless they already assumed the two victims were goners.

[firstbluedragon]

I guess this guy didn't pass the small basic or small advanced exams, he'd know you can't fly your drone over these types of incidents

[JustinTurnerman]

Don't take shortcuts to save a few bucks or a few minutes time. Money isn't worth the life of fathers, brothers, sisters, sons etc.