Rescue resumes at collapsed mall

ELLIOT LAKE, Ontario – Officials said late Monday they are resuming rescue efforts at a partly collapsed mall after Ontario’s premier urged them to continue and residents protested that no one should be abandoned.

Rescue workers detected breathing inside the rubble early Monday, but authorities later called off the work over fears of another collapse. One death has been confirmed after part of the roof collapsed Saturday afternoon, and another person is known to be inside.

Just hours after the search was called off, the local member of the provincial legislature said Premier Dalton McGuinty wanted to explore the slim odds of a rescue. Dozens of residents of the former mining hub protested in front of city hall after the decision to halt rescue efforts, saying abandoning trapped comrades would be unthinkable in miners’ culture. “Rescue missions never end, save our families, save our friends,” they chanted Some suggested that volunteer mine workers should take up the effort themselves.

Rhonda Bear, the mall’s manager, had said the mall’s owners were pleading with officials to continue the search and had lawyers who would try for a court injunction against the decision to stop the rescue.

At least 22 people suffered injuries in the collapse at the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake when a portion of the roof that serves as a parking area crumbled into an area near the food court.

Ontario Provincial Police Insp. Percy Jollymore said officers are trying to determine how many are missing. A list of names has been fluctuating dramatically since the accident, he said, but two names have remained constant.