One person is dead and another is in hospital after a building partly collapsed at a demolition site in North Vancouver Wednesday morning.

B.C. Emergency Health Services said it received a report at 8:43 a.m. about the structural collapse at the corner of Chesterfield Avenue and West Esplanade.

One person was taken by paramedics to Lions Gate Hospital and is in stable condition, according to a BCEHS spokesperson.

Another person was buried beneath rubble, but crews were unable to recover the body immediately due to the risk of further collapse, said North Vancouver RCMP.

“They determined that as a result of catastrophic injuries … this person had died as a result of the collapse,” said Sgt. Peter DeVries. “However, they were not able to recover the person’s body due to the danger.”

Structural engineers and the Can-TF1 heavy urban search and rescue task force, part of Vancouver Fire Rescue, have been called in to recover the body, said North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service Chief Greg Shalk.

The rescued worker was pulled from inside some machinery, Shalk said.

He remains in the hospital being treated for his injuries, which Mounties say are not believed to be life-threatening.

A demolition crew was working on the site of the former Empire Theatres, which closed in 2019. The site is slated to be replaced by a nine-storey mixed-use building with 75 market rental units by developer Cressey.

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