5th Canadian soldier dies weeks after fire on military base

A 5th Canadian worker has died from injuries suffered erstwhile a wind-driven writer fire swept done troops during a subject grooming workout past month, the Canadian Armed Forces said Saturday.

Pvt. William Douglas Dal Bianco died Friday astatine a infirmary successful Ontario, wherever helium had been receiving attraction since the Oct. 17 occurrence astatine Canadian Forces Base Wainwright successful Alberta, the subject said.

About 84 soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, were conducting onslaught grooming erstwhile winds pushed flames from a grass occurrence toward the troops astatine the basal southeast of Edmonton. It occurred connected a grenade launcher range, officials said past month.

The subject said Saturday that 24 soldiers stay hospitalized.

"Private Dal Bianco and his chap soldiers were grooming to support Canada," Prime Minister Mark Carney said successful a societal media post. "With their agleam futures inactive earlier them, they chose to safeguard ours. That is service."

The different soldiers killed were Pvt. Shaun Farrell, 23, of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan; Pvt. Aidan Goulding, 23, of North Vancouver, British Columbia; Pvt. Hayden Lykkemark, 19, of Langley, British Columbia; and Sgt. Morgan Wong, 26, of Edmonton.

Military constabulary are investigating the fire, portion a abstracted subject committee of enquiry volition analyse the circumstances of the calamity and urge measures to forestall akin incidents.

Maj. Gen. Wade Rutland said that subject officials knew astir the occurrence for hours but believed it was contained and allowed grooming to proceed earlier winds abruptly shifted.

Carney has called the occurrence 1 of the worst peacetime tragedies for Canada's subject connected Canadian soil. 

"We volition get the answers to what caused this unspeakable tragedy, arsenic expeditiously and transparently arsenic necessary," Carney told reporters past month.

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