Workers dug out a mechanical shovel which was buried in a gravel pit slide and killed an equipment engineer. The incident took place last month near Highway 105 at Farrellton, Quebec.
A report by the Ottawa Citizen says Daniel Dompierre, 31, died on 1 November when the excavator he was operating was buried at the pit after a large amount of sand slid down from the wall of the pit.
First responders took around a week to plan a safety procedure to remove the victim’s body. Quebec’s Committee on Standards, Equity, Health and Safety (CNESST) chose geotechnical engineers to implement a plan.
A separate plan was devised to free the excavating machine buried under hundreds of tonnes of sand and gravel, the report adds.
Workers then carried out three days of “complex work” to recover the victim.
The shovel was retrieved and has been taken in as evidence.
CNESST and Collines-de-l’Outaouais police are investigating the incident.
