Four men are lucky to be alive after a building they were working on collapsed Saturday.
Just after 11 a.m. on Saturday, members of the Estevan Fire Rescue Service, Estevan Police Service and ambulance personnel were called to the Viking Surplus yard on the city's southeast corner after receiving word that a steel building which was under construction had collapsed.
According to an EPS press release, the men were working in man-lift bucket machines when the collapse occurred and were hurled to the ground as the structure came down. Three of the four men suffered non-life threatening injuries in the collapse. One of the men was pinned by the man-lift bucket but was eventually freed by members of the fire department.
Deputy fire Chief Dale Feser said the firefighters used airbags and a curbing system to free the pinned man and noted that the situation could have been much worse.
"They should have purchased lottery tickets after this. These three individuals were very fortunate to make it out with the injuries that they did considering the size of the collapse," said Feser who added that the airbag system the fire rescue owns allowed them to rescue the pinned man quickly.
"The airbag system that we use is designed for structural rescue as well as motor vehicle collisions. We have two bags that we can use; the larger one is good for lifting 20 tons and the smaller one can lift 12 tons. It wasn't out of our realm of possibilities to do this scene and all crews worked really well together."
Feser said he was unsure about the pinned man's current status but noted it was his leg that was pinned under the man-lift.
There has been no word on what caused the collapse and the incident is currently under investigation by the Occupational Health and Safety inspectors. One of the men who was able to escape the collapse told The Mercury he had concerns about the safety of the building due in part to the speed of the project as well as the inexperienced crew.
