07/13/2021
A fatal incident involving a tower crane occurred last night in Kelowna, British Columbia – east of Vancouver – while it was being dismantled.
Initial reports confirmed that at least one person had died and three were rushed to hospital, one with serious injuries. In the meantime, a tower crane fitter was able to shimmy along one of the tower anchors to get to safety. Update: We now know that four people have died – crane operator Patrick Stemmer and his brother Eric both from the family business Stemmer Construction. Both had young families.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help them out (to go to their page click here)
Another man who died was crane man Jared Zook, 32. (To go to the family’s GoFundMe page, click here)
A fifth person – a man who works in an office building off the site, is also missing and is believed to have been buried after the crane hit the building.
The tower
The boom, the cabin and the rear mast / counter-jib
The crane, a Liebherr flat top owned and operated by Stemmer Construction / Cranes, was in use on the block, a residential and commercial project with three towers that was built by the Mission group in the city. The company issued a statement calling the incident a “catastrophic failure in dismantling the crane.” It added: “We are continuing to work closely with rescue workers to assess the situation. The mission group immediately evacuated the building and the rescue workers were contacted after We continue to work closely with rescue workers to assess the situation. “
“The mission group expresses its deepest condolences to the families of those affected by this tragedy. We have set up support services to help those in need.”
Large numbers of people who live in the area have been evacuated from their homes. Further details are limited as some conflicting information is received.
The videos below could shed more light on what has happened so far and we will update as we learn more.
Update – Current news bulletin
RCMP = video of the police press conference
