4 dead after scissor lift falls at house construction site in Quebec

Provincial police say four people are dead after a construction project turned tragic Saturday in Quebec’s Bas-St-Laurent region.

Police say the victims were atop a scissor lift several metres above the ground as they worked on a new house in the municipality of Saint-Léandre when the device toppled for an unknown reason.

Police spokesman Stephane Tremblay says officers arrived at the scene to find a young man dead and three others badly injured.

He says they were taken to hospital but died during the night.

Officials say a coroner’s inquest is underway, while an investigation by Quebec’s workplace health and safety board aims to determine whether an equipment breakdown occurred.

The victims are a 53-year-old woman and 60-year-old man from Rivière-du-Loup, a 27-year-old man and a 24-year-old woman from St-Léandre, a rural municipality of fewer than 400 people.