ELLIOT LAKE, Ontario, June 24 (UPI) -- Rescuers said Sunday they believed one person was trapped alive in the rubble of a mall roof collapse in Elliot Lake, Ontario, but another victim may be dead.
A large section of a roof over a parking area at the Algo Center Mall came down Saturday afternoon, leaving 22 people with minor injuries and triggering an intense effort to find any casualties in the debris, The (Elliot Lake) Standard reported.
"Some of our search members this morning heard a couple of taps, believe there are at least two victims buried in the rubble," Bill Neadles, a Toronto search-and-rescue incident commander from Toronto, said.
"They called for quick silence on the site and there was a couple more taps. That was an indication to us that we were dealing with a rescue."
Inspector Percy Jollymore of the East Algoma Ontario Provincial Police said crews saw a hand and a foot of an apparently deceased victim. he said the limbs were in an area rescuers could not reach and they could not confirm the person's identity.
Jean Marc Hayward of Elliot Lake told The Standard he was sitting in the mall's second-floor food court when the roof collapsed.
"I didn't get no sleep last night," Hayward said. "I kept playing everything in my mind. Watching the roof come down. It was scary."
