A nine-year-old boy has died after he was crushed by a falling piece of steel at a Hamilton industrial site.

Emergency crews were called to a building at 65 Imperial St. around 1:45 p.m. Sunday after they received a 911 call for an injured child.

Paramedics raced to the scene, but by the time they arrived the child did not have a heartbeat. They attempted CPR, but he was pronounced dead at Hamilton General Hospital.

EMS platoon chief Jim Summers said the steel had crushed the boy’s skull. He had been inside one of the buildings on that site with his father, Summers said.

Police Staff Sergeant Phil Fleming said there a number of buildings on that industrial lot, and would not specify which business this particular building belonged to.

Investigators streamed in and out of the lot Sunday, combing the scene for a joint probe between Hamilton Police and the Ontario Ministry of Labour.

“We have to determine the circumstances of the accident, if there is criminality involved . . . usually it will be turned over to the Ministry of Labour and they will be in charge of the investigation,” Fleming said.

As of 8 p.m. Sunday, it was still a joint investigation.

Fleming would not say if the man was an employee of that building, he did confirm that the pair had a legitimate reason for being there. It is not a trespassing or break-and-enter investigation, he said.

Fleming wouldn’t confirm the boy was with his father, only that he was with a family member. He said the boy’s identity will not be released until the rest of the family is notified.

A witness was out walking his dog in the area when the commotion started near a red-brick building on the south side of Gerrard.

Paul Penn was about to bring his dog inside when he heard what he thought sounded like steel beams falling to the ground.

“I heard a bunch of banging over there about 10 minutes before the fire trucks and everything came. I didn’t think anything of it because there are steel places all around here,” said Penn, 23.

After emergency crews arrived on the scene, Penn said an older woman ran past him and was crying hysterically. When the second ambulance arrived, Penn said paramedics loaded someone into it, quickly closed the doors and left immediately.

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Summers said the EMS crew that responded was taken off the road will be debriefed due to the traumatic incident and the boy’s youth.

“You don’t see a lot of industrial accidents on children, and people forget that paramedics are people too, they need to process this as well,” he said.

Fleming, too, said there will be crisis intervention services offered to all those on scene.

“Of course our condolences go out to the family at this tough time,” he said.