A 15-year-old boy, working construction at a Stony Mountain site, died after he was buried in hot asphalt late this morning.
Richard Hill helped dig out worker buried in the asphalt (Seen with wife Marlene.) (Ken Gigliotti / Winnipeg Free Press )
RCMP say the youth was working for a paving company which was doing road repairs at the time. Still early in the investigation, it appears he was helping unload a truck when he was buried beneath a large amount of asphalt.
His name is being withheld at the request of his family.
Officials with Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health are also investigating.
Stony Mountain/Rockwood fire chief Wallace Drysdale said emergency crews arrived at the old Manitoba Hydro substation at 66 Vincent Rd. minutes after being notified of the accident, at around 10:55 a.m.
"There was a young man buried completely up to his hair in hot asphalt," he said.
"Drysdale said a construction company, Interlake Asphalt, had been dumping a trailer full of asphalt into a massive pile to use for various projects around town.
"He'd been standing behind the truck, from what we gather, and the load dumped on him. It knocked him over,” he said of the victim. "You could just see some of his hair sticking out of the asphalt. Some tried to dig by hand too, so they were burning their hands trying to do it."
Drysdale said crews knew the man was dead immediately after arriving, and had to dig to extricate his body.
"In a case like this, when you're buried that deep, whether it's asphalt or not, you’re usually deceased," he said, adding it's impossible to breathe with so much pressure.
"It's horrible,” he said. "Especially this guy. He s pretty young.”
Two other workers suffered burns to their hands while trying to dig the man out.
Richard Hill of Stony Mountain said he was in his driveway loading up his truck "when I heard screaming 'Help, help.'
"I ran through the backyard and saw one guy running with a shovel saying 'he's buried.' I looked around for a shovel and ran over and began shovelling.
"We got down to his hair. It was salt and pepper, but there was just no movement. No movement at all.
"It was so hot my boots were burning because of the asphalt and I burned my hand. It's burning a bit, but it's nothing major.
Two other men were with Hill, including one who phoned 911.
Manitoba Workplace Safety and Health has sent an investigator.
