Tragic teen buried alive at Canadian building site

A 15-year-old boy working on a Canadian building site died after he was buried under a mountain of searing-hot asphalt.

A 15-year-old boy working on a Canadian building site has died after he was buried under a mountain of searing-hot asphalt.

The boy, too young to work on construction jobs under Manitoba employment laws, was part of a paving crew working on a car park in the Winnipeg community of Stony Mountain.

"I believe (the truck) dumped off way too much asphalt unexpectedly," said Stony Mountain fire chief Wallace Drysdale.

Mr Drysdale said he was among the first on the scene, and "we just saw the hair sticking out" of the mound of asphalt. He said that crews could only work digging the boy out for four- or five-minute intervals because their feet were burning from the heat.

Police and industrial officials were investigating.

Richard Hill, who lives close to the accident scene, heard the boy scream and ran over.

"I guess it was the truck driver that said: 'There's a guy buried in here' and I ... found a shovel, and me and another guy tried digging him out," Mr Hill said.

It took about 15 minutes to remove the boy. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police said they had identified the boy but were not releasing his name immediately at the request of his family.

Manitoba's Employment Standards Code bars young people under 16 from working on building sites, as well as other industrial locations where there are drilling rigs and scaffolding.

The death had touched everyone in Stony Mountain, Mr Drysdale said.

"Our (fire department) members knew this person, because it's a small town," he said. "It's very hard."