21 December 2005
CPR Worker Killed After Being Hit by Falling Ice
A CP Railway worker was killed by a large chunk of falling ice while working in a railway tunnel on
the east side of Rogers Pass last Wednesday morning.
The 44-year-old man who has been identified by RCMP as Robert Murdock Martin of Bowden, AB, was working as part of a
two-man track crew clearing ice from the side wall of the Macdonald Tunnel, when a large 700 pound slab of ice came
crashing down from 18 feet above, pinning Martin, according to police.
A Golden-based B.C. Ambulance Service crew responded to the scene and treated the man before he was airlifted to Golden,
where he was stabilized and transferred onward by STARS emergency helicopter to Calgary Foothills. The victim ultimately succumbed to
what a STARS official described as "massive head injuries."
"This is a tragic industrial accident in a very safety-conscious environment," said CPR manager of public affairs
Ed Greenberg last week. "Certainly it's a sad time for us all at CPR and we have his family in our thoughts and prayers."
Greenberg says he's personally never heard of an accident of this nature happening at CPR in his time, and he insists that the company
"takes every precaution to protect our employees from any accident".
CPR says it has launched an investigation with the RCMP into the circumstances surrounding the accident.
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