ELLIOT LAKE, Ontario, June 25 (UPI) -- Officials in Elliot Lake, Ontario, Monday confirmed one person died in a weekend shopping mall roof collapse and said they believed about 30 were missing.
The (Elliot Lake) Standard reported there had been signs of life heard near the escalators at the Algo Center Mall. Rescuers were inside the mall trying to reach any survivors but were being hampered by unstable conditions, the newspaper said.
One victim had been confirmed dead and 22 others suffered minor injuries in the Saturday disaster.
Emergency crews had removed one sport utility vehicle that had plunged to a lower level when the roof collapsed, The Standard said.
CTV News reported Ontario Provincial Police had a hard time establishing exactly how many people were unaccounted for.
"I caution it goes up and down, and as you can imagine it's difficult to determine who was a casual customer or visitor to the mall at the time of the collapse," Inspector Percy Jollymore told reporters.
Rescuers were using specialized equipment to detect signs of life in the debris. Breathing was detected within the rubble about 4 a.m.
"They were able to determine that there was signs of life from the one same location that we had indicated yesterday," rescue official Bill Needles said.
The collapse crumbled two floors of the building and affected an area about 40 feet by 80 feet.
Elliot Lake is a city of 11,300 people about 100 miles west of Sudbury.
