A contractor was killed in an incident at Suncor Energy's Millennium oil sands mine near Fort McMurray, northern Alberta, on Friday morning, a Suncor spokeswoman said.
The worker, who was a contractor for Aecon Group Inc , was involved in excavation activities in one area of Suncor's 350,000 barrel per day base plant site, spokeswoman Sneh Seetal said. There were no other injuries and production has not been affected. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the person's family, friends and co-workers during this difficult time. We have initiated grief counselling activities for people on site," Seetal added. The contractor was somehow buried while involved in the trenching work and succumbed to the injuries, Alberta Labour spokesman Trent Bancarz said. Alberta Labour's Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)investigators are on site and a stop-work order has been put in place where the incident occurred. Aecon Group chief executive John Beck expressed his condolences in a statement and said the company would work closely with Alberta OHS and launch a thorough investigation. The Wood Buffalo region Royal Canadian Mounted Police were called in to assist emergency services, and have not yet identified the victim. (Reporting by Nia Williams; Editing by Phil Berlowitz and Andrew Hay)