Man whose body was found behind washroom wall climbed into vent

Police say a man whose body was found inside a wall in a women's washroom in a downtown Calgary mall died accidentally after he crawled into a vent behind a toilet and got stuck.

Police said, "The victim's motivation for crawling inside the wall is unknown at this time."

His body was found on Monday morning by a maintenance worker who was called to fix a toilet that wouldn't flush on the fourth floor of The Core Shopping Centre.

Investigators say the man in his 20s entered the women's washroom alone on Friday evening. It's believed he climbed on top of a pony wall behind the toilets and removed a vent cover on top of the wall.

The wall  about two metres high and not attached to the ceiling  is used to hide utilities.

"Based on evidence at the scene, officers believe the victim then climbed inside the pony wall through the vent opening where he became stuck and later died."

It took several hours on Monday to extract the body. People dined in the food court metres away from the washroom, which had a yellow caution ribbon strung across the entrance, and officers could be seen ducking in and out, along with officials from the medical examiner's office. Several firefighters were there to help remove the body.