House collapse kills man inside: N.S. RCMP

A man in his 80s has died after his Colchester County home collapsed.

When investigators were called to the home in Stewiacke, N.S., they first thought it was a workplace incident.

Emergency crews were called shortly before noon Wednesday to a house that had collapsed on Kitchener St.

At first, police say they were told a person was doing some sort of work — renovations or demolition — and got trapped inside.

First responders were able to get inside the broken-down structure and found the body of an 82-year-old man.

Investigators were able to identify him as the homeowner and confirm it wasn’t a workplace incident.

“The structure collapsed, what appeared to be, on its own,” said Cpl. Christ Marshall, an RCMP spokesperson.

“We’re still obviously investigating the incident, trying to determine what happened.”

Marshall says he isn’t sure if this type of incident has happened before.

“In my 12 years as a police officer, I’ve never heard of a structure just kind of collapsing on its own without work being done.”

Police say the home had been subject to a demolition order but no work was taking place at the time.

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