Worker dies at Suncor oilsands site after machinery sinks into muskeg

A tailings pond at Suncor Fort Hills in Fort McMurray Alta, on Monday Sept. 10, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

Alberta Occupational Health and Safety is investigating the death of a worker at an oilsands mine north of Fort McMurray.

The worker was inside a piece of equipment last week when it became submerged in muskeg, it said.

“It is always tragic when a worker dies on the job,” OH&S said in a written statement.

Suncor Energy Inc. said the contractor had been operating heavy machinery near a water body — not a tailings pond — at its Fort Hills oilsands site.

As of last week, the person was unaccounted for and recovery efforts were underway.

Neither the company nor OH&S provided an update Thursday on the efforts to retrieve the worker’s remains.

Suncor said the investigation is early and ongoing, but there are indications it may have been the result of a medical event.

“Our thoughts are with the individual’s family, friends and colleagues during this difficult time,” the company said.

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.

Safety had earlier been a major concern at the Calgary-based oilsands giant.

Between 2014 and 2022, it had at least 12 workplace deaths at its sites, more than the rest of its oilsands 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’s board and management.

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.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 22, 2026.