Third worker managed to escape at Maskimo sand and gravel quarry in the Laurentians.
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© Graham Hughes/The Canadian PressA rescue worker checks out a buried vehicle at a quarry in L’Epiphanie in the Laurentians on Tuesday, January 29, 2013.
Canada - A dramatic rescue attempt is underway seeking two workers who are believed to have been buried in a landslide in a gravel quarry in L'Épiphanie, the Sûreté du Québec said Tuesday.

A large crane has been ordered for the site, the SQ tweeted about 1:30 p.m. - as rescue efforts continued.

At 12:45 p.m., a special Spiderman team trained to rescue people from great heights went down approximately 90 metres to the base of the quarry.

Firefighters from Repentigny, roped together for safety, went down with shovels to try to establish contact with the missing workers.

The rescue team are armed with thermal imagery machines to detect signs of life.

A torrent of earth swept along two trucks and one excavation vehicle, about 11 a.m. Tuesday. The heavy vehicles are upside down in the gravel and the two missing workers are believed trapped inside.

The undercarriage of one truck is visible from above, but the other is buried deeper, said a witness on site.

Because of the continued instability of the walls and floor of the quarry, ambulances or mechanical diggers cannot enter the vast crater to dig out the victims.

Rescuers only have access on foot, lowered down by ropes.

"Because of the circumstances, we cannot take vehicles to conduct the search," SQ Sgt. Benoit Richard said. Police, firefighters and at least one sniffer dog are on site.

The Maskimo quarry is in the Laurentians, 50 kilometres east of Montreal. It is used to mine sand and gravel.

A third worker in the accident managed to escape, the one driving the excavator. He was airlifted out by SQ helicopter about 12:20 p.m. He was suffering from frostbite, but he is not seriously injured, Richard said.

Chantale Beaudoin with Quebec's workplace health and safety board (CSST) said she and a geologist with Transport Quebec are at the site with the police and firefighters evaluating the situation.

Questions have been raised as to why the heavy vehicles were working in a part of the quarry that was so unstable. The CSST will launch an investigation.

Source: The Montreal Gazzette; The Canadian Press contributed to this report.