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VANCOUVER – The daughters of a man who drowned in an industrial accident at a B.C. mine say criminal negligence charges should have been laid in connection to the death.

John Wilson died after the excavator he was operating overturned into a water-filled sump at the Craigmont Mine near Merrittt, B.C. in February 2008.

The Crown announced earlier this month that no charge will be laid because there wasn’t a likelihood of conviction against the mine, its manager or a supervisor.

Tammy Savinkoff says she’s outraged and her family is upset by the decision because their door to justice has been closed.

She and her sister Tracy Wilson say in a statement the RCMP investigation was painfully slow and often interrupted, while the Crown’s reasons for clearing the mining firm lacked facts, such as information from the Inspector of Mines.

Savinkoff says in the absence of charges, she’d like to see several changes to the justice system, one of which would be to give police officers more training in workplace accidents.

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