DISTRESSING CONTENT WARNING: Mandip Kaur made the gruesome find after desperately searching for Gursimran Kaur, who had vanished from the shop floor for more than an hour.
15:28, Sat, Mar 14, 2026 Updated: 15:29, Sat, Mar 14, 2026
Walmart (Image: GoFundMe)
A devastated mum has told of the terrifying moment she discovered her 19-year-old daughter burned to death inside a walk-in oven at a Walmart store in Canada. The tragedy, which occurred in the bakery department of the Halifax, Nova Scotia, superstore on October 19, 2024, has recently seen the conclusion of a 16-month workplace safety investigation.
Mandip Kaur made the gruesome find after desperately searching for Gursimran Kaur, who had vanished from the shop floor for more than an hour. Ms Kaur, who worked alongside her daughter, had asked colleagues if they had seen the teenager, but they initially dismissed her concerns, suggesting she was simply busy with customers elsewhere in the vast store.
Tributes outside the store (Image: AP)
Ms Kaur said: “I opened the door and she was there. I couldn’t handle myself. I was there on the floor with her for five or 10 minutes. I didn’t know what had happened.”
She had tried calling Gursimran’s phone repeatedly, but it remained unreachable. It was then that Ms Kaur spotted a black-brown liquid resembling tar oozing from the commercial oven, which can reach temperatures of 400C. When she opened the heavy door, she found her daughter’s body charred beyond recognition.
Halifax Regional Police were alerted at around 9.30pm after reports of a female “locked inside an oven”. Officers arrived to find Gursimran had been removed from the oven and she was declared dead at the scene. While the force initially investigated the case as a possible homicide, they ruled it non-suspicious and “not criminal” a month later.
On February 27, 2026, Canada’s Department of Labour officially cleared Walmart of any safety breaches. The final report concluded that the equipment was in proper working order and no regulations were violated.
The Walmart store in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Image: AP)
The store, which shut for four months after the death, has since removed the walk-in models and replaced them with smaller ovens.
Despite the official findings, Ms Kaur has furiously rejected any suggestion her daughter took her own life. The pair had moved from India to Canada just two years earlier and had spent the previous evening laughing and celebrating with family.
Ms Kaur added: “Does she look depressed? She was so happy.”
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Walmart Canada stated: “We are heartbroken by the tragedy and have offered staff 24/7 virtual care and on-site grief counselling.”
Following the conclusion of the safety probe last month, the bakery department remains under a new layout. Local community members have continued to leave floral tributes at the site in memory of the teenager.
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