B.C. coroner announces separate inquests into mill explosions that killed 4 men

VANCOUVER – The B.C. Coroners Service has decided to hold separate inquests into the deaths of workers in two sawmill explosions in 2002.

An inquest into a blast at Lakeland Mills in Prince George is scheduled to begin on March 2.

Proceedings into an explosion at the Babine Forest Products mill in Burns Lake will get underway on July 13.

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe announced last year that a single inquest would be held to examine the deaths of the four men who were killed on the job at both sites.

Lapointe says further information from families, survivors, community members and inquest participants has been considered in the decision to hold inquests in each community.

Two men were killed in an explosion and fire at the Burns Lake mill in January 2012, and a fire at the Prince George mill in April that year also claimed the lives of two workers.