{"id":252482,"date":"2026-01-22T22:05:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T22:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/252482\/"},"modified":"2026-01-22T22:05:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T22:05:07","slug":"worker-dies-at-suncor-oil-sands-site-near-fort-mcmurray-as-machinery-sinks-into-muskeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/252482\/","title":{"rendered":"Worker dies at Suncor oil sands site near Fort McMurray as machinery sinks into muskeg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A tailings pond at Suncor Fort Hills in Fort McMurray in September, 2018.JASON FRANSON\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

Alberta Occupational Health and Safety is investigating the death of a worker at an oil sands mine north of Fort McMurray.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The worker was inside a piece of equipment last week when it became submerged in muskeg, it said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is always tragic when a worker dies on the job,\u201d OH&S said in a written statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suncor Energy Inc. SU-T<\/a> said the contractor had been operating heavy machinery near a water body \u2013 not a tailings pond \u2013 at its Fort Hills oil sands site.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As of last week, the person was unaccounted for and recovery efforts were under way.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Neither the company nor OH&S provided an update Thursday on the efforts to retrieve the worker\u2019s remains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Suncor said the investigation is early and ongoing, but there are indications it may have been the result of a medical event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur thoughts are with the individual\u2019s family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time,\u201d the company said.\u00a0<\/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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Safety had earlier been a major concern at the Calgary-based oil sands giant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Between 2014 and 2022, it had at least 12 workplace deaths at its sites, more than the rest of its oil sands peers combined. 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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A tailings pond at Suncor Fort Hills in Fort McMurray in September, 2018.JASON…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252483,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[246,229,247,220,218,248,245,217,236,237,232,219,216,184,243,242,235,227,259,221,222,234,85,46,230,231,224,249,225,254,255,257,252,256,250,253,223,240,241,238,239,251,141,228,125,244,233,226,126,258],"class_list":{"0":"post-252482","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-il","31":"tag-israel","32":"tag-life-news","33":"tag-lifestyle","34":"tag-local-news","35":"tag-manitoba","36":"tag-national-news","37":"tag-new-brunswick","38":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-science","51":"tag-sports-news","52":"tag-technology","53":"tag-travel","54":"tag-trudeau","55":"tag-us-news","56":"tag-world-news","57":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252482"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252482\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}