The crane collapse that forced an area of downtown Kelowna, B.C., to be evacuated on Monday morning has left multiple people dead, according to authorities.

The accident, which damaged several buildings in the area of Bernard Avenue and St. Paul Street, has also prompted officials to declare a local state of emergency in the Okanagan city.

Witnesses described a chaotic scene in which workers tried to get out of harm’s way as the crane was coming down.

“It was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” said Miriam Halpenny. “I was talking to another woman who said she saw a man falling from the top.”

Hours after the incident, Kelowna RCMP confirmed that more than one person was killed, but said they were “releasing limited information” on the extent of the tragedy, in part because authorities were still working to notify next of kin.

“Not all persons have been properly identified, and so right now, all we can tell you is that there have been multiple fatalities from people in that area,” Insp. Adam MacIntosh said.

The crane collapse happened at the Brooklyn construction site run by developer Mission Group. The company described the incident as a “catastrophic failure (in which) a crane fell during the dismantling process.”

Mission Group CEO Jonathan Friesen would not confirm how many people had died, but said all confirmed fatalities had been working on the high-rise residential construction project.

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