BC Coroners Service updates investigation of August death in Wainwright Barge incident

The BC Coroner's Service has updated
the status of their investigation
into last months industrial death
at the Wainwright Barge yard

The investigation into the August 19th incident in Prince Rupert's Industrial park continues with the BC Coroner's office yesterday providing its first update on their work.

In a media release, the Coroner's office identified the victim of the incident as Warren Murray Pearce, 48 years old of Prince Rupert.

The background to the incident notes that Mr. Pearce was working a barge-loading operation in the Industrial Park, when around 12:15 the bulkhead on which he was standing on collapsed, pulling Mr. Pearce into the ocean along with debris.

Members of the Prince Rupert RCMP, Fire/Rescue Department and BC Ambulance attended to the scene of the incident, however tragically Mr. Pearce was declared deceased at the scene.

The investigation continues into the incident, with the BC Corners Service, WorkSafe BC and RCMP all contributing towards that review of events.

You can examine the full media release from the Coroner's office here, our background on the original incident of mid August can be found here.

For more items related to the work of Emergency Service responders on the North Coast see our archive page here.