Assistance from independent specialists is being sought in the investigation into Sunday's death of a mechanic working underground at the Wolverine Mine in southeast Yukon.

Mark Hill, a spokesman for the territorial occupational health and safety branch, said this morning a safety auditor was expected to arrive today from Toronto. Staff are trying to find a geotechnical engineer from Outside to examine the site.

William Fisher, a 25-year-old resident of Kelowna, B.C., was working on a piece of equipment when he was crushed by a cave-in at approximately 3:30

a.m.

Two others working with Fisher were knocked to the ground by the force of the event but otherwise did not suffer any serious injuries, according to information released Monday.

Fisher's body was recovered 12 hours later.

Though the mine is owned by the Yukon Zinc Corp., Fisher was working for Procon Mining and Tunnelling, the company contracted to carry out Yukon Zinc's underground work. The mine, located 180 kilometres southeast of Ross River, is scheduled to go into production at the end of June.

Hill said Kurt Dieckmann, the government's director of occupational health and safety, returned from the site Monday afternoon and three other inspectors remain out there.

Dieckmann, he pointed out, has extensive experience as an underground miner, and has worked at the level of mine superintendent.

"What he saw in his initial investigation yesterday raised a number of concerns for him with regard to how things were being done,” Hill said.

Dieckmann wants verification of his concerns from the independent geotechnical engineer, Hill added, but the health and safety branch will not get into any details until hearing back from the engineer.

Until the engineer has conducted an on-site investigation and filed his report, no mining activity will be permitted underground. Crews are, however, permitted to do routine maintenance work, such as keeping the water pumps running, Hill said.

He said the safety auditor will examine the overall management of safety at the mine site.

The health and safety branch is expecting to have its preliminary results of the investigation available a week from Thursday, Hill said.

Yukon Zinc vice-president Pamela O'Hara said Monday she understands the area where the cave-in occurred had been secured with roof bolts, and that it was the tunnel wall that fell in and killed Fisher.

His is the second underground fatality at the mine site in six months.

A 20-year-old man working for Procon died after the piece of equipment he had been operating slid down a decline and struck him.

Though he remained conscious and was walking, he was flown to Whitehorse on a regular crew change flight to be examined more thoroughly.

He died at Whitehorse General Hospital just over four hours after being injured.