Smoke rises from the Babine Forest Products mill in Burns Lake, B.C. Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
January 20, 2014 - 4:44 PM
BURNS LAKE, B.C. - More than 100 people have gathered in Burns Lake, B.C., to mark the second anniversary of the sawmill explosion and fire that killed two workers.
Forty-two-year-old Carl Charlie and 45-year-old Robert Luggi died in the inferno that injured 20 others and destroyed the Babine Forest Products mill.
Charlie's sister, Lucy Campbell, was among the mourners at the Wet'suwet'en (Wet-SO-wetsun) Community Hall and said she has mixed feelings about the mill being rebuilt.
Victims' families are still reeling from the recent announcement by the Criminal Justice Branch that no charges will be laid in the January 2012 incident.
But Burns Lake Mayor Luke Strimbold says the devastating blast has brought the community closer together and that the rebuilding of the mill is important to the community moving forward.
A WorkSafeBC report released last week concluded that the explosion was preventable and that four charges were recommended, though the Criminal Justice Branch said much of the evidence would have been inadmissible in court. (CKPG)
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014