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ELLIOT LAKE, ONT.—The search is on again for survivors of a deadly mall collapse, just hours after rescue efforts were called off because it was too dangerous to continue.
New Democrat MPP Michael Mantha said Premier Dalton McGuinty urged officials to continue the effort.
“I believe we owe it to the families waiting for word of their loved ones to leave no stone unturned,” McGuinty said in a statement late Monday.
More on the Elliot Lake mall collapse
“We owe that to the people of Elliot Lake too. Ontarians expect nothing less.”
Earlier Monday, after a two-day round-the-clock search, rescuers determined the mall was structurally too unsafe to continue.
But Mantha says rescue workers are now coming up with a plan to allow the rescue of any survivors or the remains of those inside the mall to be removed from the site.
Immediately after the rescue was first called off, Cassandra Fortin went to a nearby parking lot and sang “Ave Maria,” mere steps from where her family friend lay trapped in the rubble.
She sang, she said, to make a statement.
“It just silences everyone so they can listen and think of what’s important to them,” she said. Her friend, Lucie Aylwin, was working at the lottery kiosk in the mall when the roof collapsed right above her.
Aylwin’s distraught fiancé, Gary Jenbron, said he’d go into the wreckage to look for her if he could.
“She’s a hard-working woman,” he told CP24, struggling to hold back tears. “She’s always willing to help anybody.”
Elliot Lake is a city wracked with grief, and one that is wrestling with anger over the decision to abandon the search for survivors of Saturday’s mall collapse.
Some residents bring candles to the memorial in front of the Algo Centre Mall, while others gather names for vigilante rescue missions.
But for a few moments those in the parking lot listened in silence and sobbed. At least one person is dead and another possibly still alive in the rubble of concrete and twisted metal. Twenty-two people were injured.
“That person is still there. I don’t know the condition of that individual,” said Bill Neadles, spokesperson for Toronto’s Heavy Urban Search and Rescue (HUSAR) team.
The case is being referred to the Ministry of Labour, which Neadles says will likely order demolition along with careful extraction of the deceased.
Many residents reacted angrily to the news, demanding that mine rescue teams be called in.
“We can’t just let them die,” yelled resident Carol Finch, taking the microphone during press conference earlier Monday.
“We come from a mining town where you never left a man underground, ever,” said resident Judy Pine.
Later, Pine joined a group of about 100 residents at the parking lot beside the mall, where Michael Croke, a 65-year-old former mine worker, assembled a makeshift rescue crew.
“I’m 65 years old,” he said. “I’ll sign a waiver saying I’ll do whatever.”
Elliot Lake is surrounded by decommissioned uranium mines and got its start during a boom period in the 1950s. Many residents have worked in mines, including as rescuers.
Croke took names of individuals interested in signing up for the team. By the end, more than 20 had done so, but a heavy police presence still around the mall may deter their efforts.
Toronto’s HUSAR team dispatched engineers earlier Monday to assess the stability of the building. They deemed it dangerously unsafe.
“They determined that this structure should or would or could collapse at any moment,” said Neadles.
“These guys were at 9/11. When one guy is almost crying, well when they say they can’t do it, they can’t do it,” said Adam Amyotte, owner of the Bargain Shop in the mall.
But the manager of the mall says its owners will seek an injunction against the decision to abandon rescue efforts.
“The owners are pleading that they don’t cancel the search of which we heard was announced,” Rhonda Bear said in an email to the Toronto Star.
More: One feared dead, another still trapped as search continues
Bear says lawyers for the owners have started the injunction, and that the owners believe the official search attempt should be continued or that trained personnel be allowed to keep the rescue going.
The HUSAR team was dispatched from Toronto Saturday after the roof of the mall caved in, sending 22 to hospital and trapping at least two others. There are still 20 names remaining on an OPP list of people reported missing by families.
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