{"id":427168,"date":"2026-01-23T02:47:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:47:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/427168\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T02:47:17","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T02:47:17","slug":"worker-dies-at-suncors-fort-hills-oilsands-mine-after-machinery-sinks-into-muskeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/427168\/","title":{"rendered":"Worker dies at Suncor\u2019s Fort Hills oilsands mine after machinery sinks into muskeg"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Alberta Occupational Health and Safety is investigating the death of a worker at an oilsands mine north of Fort McMurray.<\/p>\n

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The provincial government says the worker was inside a piece of equipment last week when it became submerged in muskeg.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is always tragic when a worker dies on the job,\u201d OH&S said in a written statement.<\/p>\n

Suncor<\/a> Energy Inc. said the contractor had been operating heavy machinery near a water body \u2014 not a tailings pond \u2014 Fort Hills<\/a> oilsands site.<\/p>\n

As of last week, the person was unaccounted for and recovery efforts were underway.<\/p>\n

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Muskeg is a spongy, waterlogged area of wetlands with deep peat that is common across the northern Alberta landscape.<\/p>\n

Neither the company nor OH&S provided an update Thursday on the efforts to retrieve the worker\u2019s remains.<\/p>\n

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Suncor says the investigation is early and ongoing, but there are indications it may have been the result of a medical event.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts are with the individual\u2019s family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

Suncor said earlier this month that its safety performance in 2025 was its best-ever for the third year in a row, with lost time and process safety events falling by 70 per cent compared to 2022.<\/p>\n

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Safety had earlier been a major concern at the Calgary-based oilsands giant.<\/p>\n

Between 2014 and 2022, it had at least 12 workplace deaths at its sites, more than the rest of its oilsands peers combined.<\/p>\n

That safety record attracted the attention of U.S.-based activist investor Elliott Investment Management, who in 2022 made a public case for an overhaul of the company\u2019s board and management.<\/p>\n

CEO Rich Kruger, formerly head of Imperial Oil Ltd., was lured out of retirement in 2022 to lead a restructuring at Suncor, which had seen a spate of high-profile operational and financial challenges.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t&copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Descrease article font size Increase article font size Alberta Occupational Health and Safety is investigating the death of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,178335,66,148953,178336,178334],"class_list":{"0":"post-427168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-fort-hills","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-suncor","14":"tag-suncor-fort-hills","15":"tag-workplace-death"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}