Excavator tearing down Spring Garden Road building falls through floor

An excavator working at the site of a building demolition on Spring Garden Roadin Halifax fell through a floorto the levelbelow Monday afternoon.

The excavator was working on the second floor of the building when it crashed through to the ground level.

"All of a sudden, boom! The excavator just went right down," said eyewitness Ross Stillwell.

Halifax Fire initially said there was no one in the excavator, however the provincial labour department says someone was inside but wasn't injured.

Halifax Fire did say that they believed aman at the construction site was hit by debris but was not injured.

Stillwellwas watching the demolition with his father who works as an excavator operator and theysaw the incident occuraround 12:20 p.m. He said he believed theexcavator fell about 15 to 20 feet.

He says it was a scary thing to watch.

"I was worried about the man in the machine and whether he was going to get out alive," said Stillwell.

Andrew Preeper, a spokesperson with the provincial labour department, says the contractor working on the project voluntarily stopped work at the site as a result of the incident.

The excavator involved was stabilized and debris and other materials were removed, in a plan that was approved by department officials.

Preeper says work cannow continue on the site.