Man dies after plummeting 5 storeys during charity fundraiser in Montreal

A 33-year-old man has died after falling from a building in downtown Montreal Saturday while involved in a charity fundraising event, according to Quebec's emergency medical services (Urgences Santé).

First responders say he was face-first rappelling, or deepelling, down the side of the building when he fell five storeys.

The man was involved in a fundraiser called Jumping for Freedom put on by the Montreal branch of Amnesty International.

"A member of the deepelling team, the company in charge of the activity, lost his life," said Amnesty International in a statement.

"Our thoughts are with the family and we offer our most sincere condolences."

The organization posted online Saturday afternoon that the event had been cancelled, saying that a "major accident" had occurred before the start of the activity.

The event was put on in collaboration with the la Maison du développement durable — the building from which the man fell. It's also the site of Amnesty International's Montreal headquarters.

Authorities were called around 10 a.m. to the corner of Ste-Catherine and Clark streets where the man was pronounced dead on the scene.

Two other people were taken to hospital and treated for nervous shock.

Urgences Santé confirms that the province's workplace health and safety board (CNESST) is taking over the investigation.

The man worked for a deepelling company called Décalade. In a statement, the enterprise said it plans to conduct its own internal investigation to determine the cause of death.