Search for possible survivor continues in rubble of Canadian mall roof collapse

Elliot Lake Fire Chief Paul Officer said the search would continue with "more extreme measures" to keep rescue crews safe.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• With two people missing in a roof collapse, searchers heard what sounded like breathing


• But officials feared a total collapse of the mall structure, endangering rescuers


• "There's a high probability that this whole thing is going to come down," rescue leader says


• Officials said Monday night the search would continue using "more mechanical means"

(CNN) -- After an emotion-filled session that had one tearful resident telling officials, "we can't just let them die," authorities in southern Ontario announced late Monday that search-and-rescue efforts would continue at a mall where a weekend roof collapse trapped at least two people.

One person was believed to be dead, but the possibility remained that the other could still be alive, trapped under the debris of Algo Centre Mall in southern Ontario's Elliot Lake community, officials said. Rescuers heard what they believed to be sounds of breathing around 4 a.m. Monday.

But despite that encouraging development, rescuers were told just hours later they would have to halt efforts for their own safety, as the entire interior of the structure threatened to come down.

"We can't put more lives at risks unnecessarily...because we've been given information that shows it's very unstable," Rob deBortoli, chief administrative officer for the city of Elliot Lake, said at a news conference attended by local residents as well as media personnel.

The news that the search would be stopped brought an emotional response from the townspeople of southern Ontario's Elliot Lake community.

"We come from a mining town, where mine rescue never gave up on their people, and it didn't matter how bad it was, they stuck it out. They were there," Elliot Lake resident Cynthia Sopher pleaded to officials during the news conference.

Another resident prompted applause from others in the crowd at the news conference when she tearfully asked, "How are we going to deal with the one that may still be alive? We can't just let them die."

"It's very, very difficult to sit and hear what they're telling us," Elliot Lake Mayor Rick Hamilton told the crowd. "The men and women who worked this event, through the (Toronto) Heavy Urban Search & Rescue, including all of our emergency service workers, have given it absolutely their all."

"There's a high probability that this whole thing is going to come down on the inside," Bill Needles of the Toronto rescue team said at the news conference.

Stress on the remaining structure had increased as heavy concrete fell near the mall's escalators and stairs, Needles said. Beams supporting the escalators and stairs started to bow, and an engineer on site "doesn't understand why it hasn't collapsed already," Needles said.

But in a hastily called news conference later Monday, Hamilton announced that local authorities had received "full approval" from Ontario government officials to proceed with the search. Ontario's premier, Dalton McGuinty, released a statement saying, "I believe we owe it to the families waiting for word of their loved ones to leave no stone unturned. We owe that to the people of Elliott Lake, too."

Fire Chief Paul Officer said the search would continue with "more extreme measures to move this forward." He did not elaborate beyond saying, "We're going to try more mechanical means to move this forward."

A partial roof collapse at the mall Saturday afternoon left piles of rubble and launched a search effort than included local emergency responders and personnel from Toronto's Heavy Urban Search and Rescue squad. Pictures of the scene showed a portion of a rooftop parking deck that had collapsed, sending metal and concrete debris crashing through multiple levels of the mall.

Shoppers and mall employees described a chaotic scene as they fled the structure and at least 22 people suffered nonlife-threatening injuries.

Although counts of missing people varied in the hours and days after the collapse, authorities said on Monday that they knew that at least two people remained unaccounted for.

No names were made public.

"We do have two names that are consistent with people who are normally in the mall at that time (of the collapse) and their vehicles are on site. Their names have never disappeared off the list," Percy Jollymore of the Ontario Provincial Police said Monday.

Source & Image : CNN World