The City of Ottawa is stressing that an incident in the light rail tunnel at Laurier and Waller Thursday afternoon was not a collapse.
"What I've been told is that the workers were in one of the lifts spraying concrete onto the rebar," Mayor Jim Watson said. "Some of the rebar came loose and it fell down and, again it wasn't a tunnel collapse, but a portion of the ceiling that did some down."
Three workers were reported trapped inside the tunnel around 4:30 p.m. Paramedics say one of them suffered minor injuries, but was able to walk out himself.
"Everyone is safe," said a worker who was further down the tunnel from the incident when it occurred. "Just on my way out I heard it was a collapse."
Watson says he doesn't want to overstate the severity of Thursday's events.
"When you're building something of this magnitude and complexity these things do, unfortunately, happen from time to time. We have some of the best tunnel experts working with the RTG group to ensure we minimize these," he said. "But there's no guarantee that there will not be some challenges."
It's not yet clear if this will cause further delays to the LRT construction, much like there was after a massive sinkhole opened up on Rideau Street near the tunnel in June. Watson says he has been informed the area around the tunnel is safe. Laurier has re-opened after being closed for nearly two hours.
The Ministry of Labour is investigating.