May 16 2012
At around 11.30 last night part of a building on rue de Bleury just south of Sherbrooke fell to the pavement, critically injuring an unfortunate pedestrian who happened to be passing below at the time a few hundred bricks fell from the top of the 3 storey building. News reports say the 40 year old man received injuries to his head and pelvis and today was in an induced coma. I wish him a speedy recovery.
I was in 2 minds about posting the following picture that shows what I assume to be the victims shoe among the rubble, but in the end I felt it gave the human side of the incident and unknown dangers we face each day.
Victims shoe surrounded by rubble
Top of building from where bricks fell
Since I take this sidewalk every morning and get my hair cut at Studio 2118 that’s located on the ground floor of the building, this particular incident hit quite close to home and makes you think, what if…
There have been quite a number of incidents in recent years of buildings and structures collapsing. Here are a few of the more serious incidents:
September 30 2006: De la Concorde overpass collapse – crushed two vehicles under it, killing five people and seriously injuring six others.
November 25 2008: A garage floor collapses in a St. Laurent apartment building killing a 36-year-old man.
July 16 2010: Woman killed and husband lost fingers while dinning at a Sushi restaurant on Peel street when a concrete block fell from the 18th floor and crashed through the glass roof.
March 13 2011: City of Montreal owned heritage building partially collapses on Notre Dame street West – no injuries.
July 31 2011: 15 meter slab of concrete falls onto Villa Maria Expressway – no injuries, but severe traffic congestion caused as a result of expressway closure in the weeks following the incident.
Hopefully the likes of the Champlain Bridge and Turcot Interchange that are in desperate need of replacement will not add to the above list of fatal/near fatal incidents before their current planned replacement in the near future.
Sorry, I was starting to digress…back to last nights incident.
Brick rubble on rue de Bleury sidewalk
Brick rubble on rue de Bleury sidewalk
Brick rubble on rue de Bleury sidewalk
Brick rubble on rue de Bleury sidewalk
To view images in gallery format, simply click on one of the images below.
Thanks for stopping by. Until next time.
– Martin
10 Comments
very interesting write up on todays blog Martin, good photos , always a pleasure to read!
Thanks Steve…I normally try to sell Montreal to visitors, not scare them away, but a photo op is a photo op 😉
Indeed Martin, i would do exactly the same, I am very envious of your dedication to your photography, i wish i could have my camera with me more. Montreal seems to be a very active place though, great for photos 😉
It partly helps being ‘between jobs’ at the moment, but certainly committing to taking a picture a day forces me to go out and shoot. Living in Montreal is a bonus and with festival season just around the corner, I shouldn’t be short of things to shoot over the summer 🙂
How unfortunate for that guy. I think that picture with the shoe is really powerful and certainly shows what you intended for it to show. It could have happened to anyone. Speedy recovery & good thoughts to the victim.
Thank you Lisa…I was hoping it didn’t come across as being in poor taste. Unfortunate for the poor guy who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Being a busy sidewalk in rush hour we can be thankful though it didn’t injure (or worse) more people.
i like the yellow tape–black and white ruins.
like x-ray vision, the past is still alive.
I like your take on the image Steven 🙂
Hi, just wanted to say hi, great pictures! I live on the third floor of this building, and I must say this incident really scared me. They say its safe to stay here, I really hope they are telling the truth… i can feel the floor shaking at times…. But they say its the traffic…. Feel so bad for the man, and yes… It could have been anyone of us..
Thanks Anja. Glad to hear you’re safe.