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Mall inquiry hears from eyewitnesses

August 7, 2013, Elliot Lake, Ont. – Eyewitnesses to the deadly collapse of the Algo Centre Mall described the concrete and debris that crashed down without warning at the inquiry into the tragedy Wednesday.

They spoke of the nightmares that still haunt their sleep more than a year after two women perished under the rubble.

"Everything happened so fast. It sounded like a bunch of pipes falling. Then everything was gone," said Adam Amyotte, who was in the mall that day.

"One thing I remember: Somebody yelling, 'Help!'"

As relatives of the two victims – Lucie Aylwin, 37, and Doloris Perizzolo, 74 – looked on, Amyotte talked about the desolation felt when the search for survivors was suspended.

"We were told there were signs of life. The whole community was told there were signs of life and they were giving up," he said.

"It still hurts."

The second phase of the inquiry, which began Wednesday, is probing the emergency response to the collapse June 23, 2012.

It began with screening of surveillance video – some of it showing Perizzolo at a nearly deserted lottery kiosk where Aylwin worked one day a month – seconds before the collapse.

Commissioner Paul Belanger warned that watching and listening to 911 calls that were played could be difficult.

"Certain aspects of the evidence may be upsetting and may be traumatic," Belanger said.

Some relatives chose to leave the hearing room.

Yves Berube, 50, who co-owned a store in the mall, noted business was particularly slow that day because of the fine weather, and many regulars were out and about.

Berube stepped outside and was about to light up a cigarette when the collapse occurred.

"Behind me was a large boom," he said. "Doors blew open, clouds of dust came flying out."

He rushed back inside. It was "just pure reaction," he said.

"Dust clouds and water blasting everywhere."

Inside, he came across Jean-Marie Marceau, 80, covered in blood.

Marceau had been knocked out by falling debris for about 15 to 20 minutes. He came to less than a metre from a gaping hole.

"I try my best to forget it," Marceau said. "It's the best way."

Berube found an elderly woman sitting in a chair, literally surrounded by concrete and debris, but miraculously unscathed.

Another young women was crawling over a pile of rubble, looking for survivors until he warned her to leave in case the rest of the mall crashed down.

Berube's store was all but destroyed. He salvaged nothing.

Surveillance video caught Jason Morrissey, 34, and his wife walking across the rooftop parking deck into the mall just before it collapsed.

"Bang, bang, bang, bang. The whole thing came down," Morrissey said.

He yanked his wife, who was a pace or two in front of him, back by the collar. She was grazed on the head and leg by falling concrete but not seriously injured.

The first part of the inquiry – which looked into what led to the collapse – formally ended Tuesday, with the last of about 70 witnesses testifying.

Evidence heard since March was how the mall, badly designed and built, leaked from the start. Successive owners did little to address the problem substantively.

Ultimately, rust due to decades of salt and water penetration weakened a weld, leading a steel support to give way.

Among those expected to testify in the coming months are local and provincial emergency responders as well as government officials, including former Ontario premier Dalton McGuinty.