Fatal parking garage roof collapse in Montreal

Montreal continues to suffer from deteriorating buildings, with the failure of another 1970s era structure.

On November 26, the second floor of a three-storey underground parking garage collapsed and dropped a 30-sq. metre slab of concrete onto vehicles below. A man in his 30s or 40s who was in his delivery vehicle, was trapped under the fallen slab. After rescue crews spent hours to release him, he was pronounced dead.

The Quebec authority responsible for building safety responded the next day by saying it had sent a memo two years ago to the building owner with warnings about the corrosive effects of de-icing salt and the need to perform regular maintenance on multi-storey garages. 

The garage is below a 17-storey apartment building on Deguire Street in the borough of Saint-Laurent. The building, ironically called, “Joie de Vivre,” is owned by a large Toronto real estate company, Cap Reit.