Send this page to someone via email

West Vancouver Police and the B.C. Coroner’s Service are investigating a sudden death early Sunday near the entry of Ambleside Park.

Shortly before 8:30 a.m. Sunday, emergency services were called to the intersection of 13th Street and Bellevue Avenue.

Police say an off-duty physician walking in the area had found an unresponsive man stuck in the opening of a clothing donation bin.

READ MORE: UBC Okanagan students design safer clothing donation bins

Fire and rescue crews and ambulance teams rushed to help.

However, the man could not be resuscitated and was pronounced deceased at the scene.

He has not been identified but police say he was a 34-year-old Vancouver man.

Story continues below advertisement

There is no indication of foul play.

WATCH: Tragic death sparks calls for re-designed donation bins

1:57 Tragic death sparks calls for re-designed donation bins Tragic death sparks calls for re-designed donation bins

This is the fifth time since 2015 that a person has died after becoming stuck in a donation bin.

Vancouver’s Union Gospel Mission (UGM) is again calling for the bins to be removed from the streets until they are made safe.

Spokesperson Nicole Mucci says it’s “gut wrenching” to know another life has been lost in one of these bins.

“If this was a children’s toy or an espresso machine or something that the general population used, often you would see this being recalled and not put back out to the public until the design was fixed again,” she told CKNW.

Story continues below advertisement

Mucci said these bins need to be taken out of service until a different design is figured out.

Earlier this year the UGM connected with an engineering professor from UBC Okanagan to work on a new bin design that is safe and won’t trap people.

The project was given to first-year UBC Okanagan students after the death of Svetlana, a homeless woman looking for clothes.

“We have had clothing donation bins for almost 20 years now, and we’ve been in the clothing collection business since 1980. We have lots of experience and we’ve seen a real spike in problems in the last few years,” Deanna Barlow, a spokesperson for the Developmental Disabilities Association said earlier this year.

“Our biggest challenge with the clothing donation bins is people are stealing donations from the bins, so it’s a constant battle to keep people safe and out of the bins.”

-With files from Janet Brown and Jules Knox