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Gursimran Kaur and her mother had been working at the Walmart store for two years before the accident.
A fundraising campaign for Gursimran Kaur, a 19-year-old Walmart employee who died trapped in a walk-in oven at one of the supermarket chain’s outlets in Canada has garnered over Rs 1 crore. The GoFundMe campaign for Gursimran’s family was organised by the Maritime Sikh Society. The fundraiser initially set out at CAD 50,000 (over Rs 60.78 lakh), which was completed within hours of launch. However, with the overwhelming support, the fundraising campaign has nearly doubled its initially set target.
Gursimran worked at a Walmart store in Halifax, Canada, along with her mother. As per the GoFundMe page, when Gursimran’s mother could not find her on the floor on October 19, she got worried and approached the managers for help. Unfortunately, she discovered her daughter’s lifeless body burnt to death in the bakery’s walk-in oven
“The woman, who was an employee of the store, was located in a large walk-in oven belonging to the store’s bakery department,” Halifax Regional Police said in a statement
“It is important to note that the investigation has not yet reached a point where the cause and manner of death,” the police added.
The cause and manner of death is yet to be discovered.
Gursimran Kaur and her mother had been working at the Walmart store in question for two years before the accident happened. They relocated to Canada from India nearly three years ago. Gursimran’s father and brother are back in India and the Sikh Society is currently trying to help the family immigrate “as soon as possible.”
A Walmart spokesperson told Fortune that the store where Gursimran worked has been temporarily closed as the management engaged in full cooperation with an investigation.
Balbir Singh from the Maritime Sikh Society, who has been in contact with Gursimran’s mother, told CBC that the local community is saddened by the loss and urged local police investigators to keep the community updated on the investigation.