Rescue workers have removed one body from the rubble of a collapsed mall in Elliot Lake, Ontario.  The news was confirmed by Ontario Public Safety Commissioner Dan Hefky.  As to whether there are any more bodies or survivors inside, Hefky said, “I can’t speak to the numbers.  What I can say is we’re back in there and we’re going to continue to work that area until we come to the conclusion that there are no more individuals there.”

Emergency teams worked through the night with “surgical precision” to access the spot where at least two people were believed to be trapped.  Work halted briefly after 8 o’clock this morning in the northern Ontario community.  That’s when Hefky went to brief the friends and family of those missing.  It was soon after that Gary Gendron, whose fiance Lucie Aylwin is among those trapped in the debris, told the CBC that officials said there are good signs.  Hefky addressed this report in his latest briefing, “The good signs I don’t know where that came from.  I can tell you, that when I spoke with them, it was simply to give them an update.  This was prior to us actually removing the remains.  So what I was sharing with them was the fact that the cranes had stopped at that point and that we were now going to proceed.” 

The roof of the Algo Centre Mall collapsed on Saturday.  Rescuers first gave up their attempts on Monday before Premier McGuinty ordered a renewed effort to try and get to the victims.