An Agrium employee seriously injured earlier this week at the company’s Vanscoy potash mine has succumbed to his injuries.
Chad Wiklun died late Wednesday night in hospital, according to a statement from United Steelworkers on behalf of his family. He was injured early Monday morning.
“It is with profound sadness that we wish to announce the passing of our beloved brother, colleague and friend,” the statement read. “After a brief fight, surrounded by family and friends, Chad succumbed to injuries that were too great for even him to fight.”
The 29-year-old leaves behind his partner of 13 years and two daughters — a six-year-old and a seven-year-old.
Todd Steen, general manager at the Agrium mine, said the loss is devastating for his co-workers.
"The people that work here and the people that worked with Chad on his crew are like a family," Steen said.
"Words can't describe how our workforce feels about this right now and a lot of tears and a lot of heartache right now for sure at our workplace."
United Steelworkers Local 7552 is establishing a trust fund for the children, with Agrium matching all employee donations.
A GoFundMe page was also set up to raise money for his family before Wiklun's death. The page has a photo of Wiklun with his daughters. By Thursday afternoon it had reached $16,875 of the $20,000 goal.
The mine has been shut down since the incident, and a full investigation into the event is underway. Steen told CTV News earlier this week the incident happened at about 2:45 a.m. on Monday when Wiklun became pinned between two pieces of machinery.
"Really, our goal here is to make sure that we understand the incident very thoroughly, so that we can make sure that nothing like this can ever happen again," said Steen.
Wiklun began working underground at Agrium in November 2010.
--- with files from The Canadian Press
