Prince George, B.C. – The faint hopes of finding two men missing in the Babine Forest Products rubble alive have been dashed with the discovery this morning of the remains of one of the men. “It’s no longer a search for survivors” says RCMP Constable Lesley Smith, “it’s a recovery mission.”

Firefighters spotted something out of place in the debris field left by the explosion and fire that destroyed the sawmill Friday night. They notified a specialized team of investigators from the B.C. Coroners Service who arrived in Burns Lake Sunday night, and that team confirmed that what was found were the remains of one of the two missing men. However, it is not known whether the remains are those of Robert Luggi or Carl Charlie. Constable Smith says “what little was found in terms of remains is so unidentifiable that it will take forensic testing to positively say which person it is.”

Const. Smith says investigators still are not able to move deeply into the debris field “because spot fires are flaring up all over the site, making the area very unsafe.” She says the Coroner Service team, RCMP and WorkSafe personnel continue to search the perimeter of the rubble in any effort to spot something more.   One structural engineer with WorkSafe and another brought in by the plant’s majority owner, Hampton Affiliates, are carefully examining the site to determine when it may be safe to go in.

Smith says the RCMP team on hand has been interviewing plant workers who are available to get a picture of who was where when the massive explosion and fire occurred. However she says “it was all out panic in there as people ran for their lives.” Authorities are in close communication with the families of the men who didn’t make it out of the sawmill. Smith says another meeting is planned in Burns Lake tonight to bring the community up to date on what has been found and what is to happen next.

Const. Smith says this investigation is going to take many months, likening it to the investigation of the NT Air hangar fire in Prince George.