Engineering firm to examine site of bluff collapse

A civil engineering firm has been hired to examine the site of the bluff hillside collapse that killed two children in Lilydale Regional Park earlier this week.

In a statement, St. Paul Parks and Recreation Director Mike Hahm said the city wants to determine the cause of the collapse.

Hahm said the engineering firm, Northern Technologies Incorporated, has particular expertise in evaluating collapses and natural disasters. Hahm said the investigation should take several weeks. A spokesman for the city said no one was available to provide more details.

A group of fourth graders from Peter Hobart Elementary School in St. Louis Park on Wednesday were on a class trip to hunt fossils in the park when a bluff collapsed on them. Haysem Sani, 9, and Mohamed Fofana, 10, were killed and two other students were injured.

Lilydale Regional Park is open to limited access. The city has temporarily closed the fossil grounds to the public.