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Indian mother recounts horrific moment she found daughter charred to death in Walmart oven: ‘I couldn’t handle myself’
An Indian woman has opened up about the horrific moment she found her teenaged daughter charred to death inside a Walmart oven
An Indian woman has opened up about the horrific moment she found her teenaged daughter charred to death inside a Walmart oven. Gursimran Kaur was a 19-year-old Walmart employee who died trapped in a walk-in oven at one of the supermarket chain’s outlets in Canada in 2024.
Two years later, her mother Mandip Kaur is still searching for answers. The police have ruled out homicide, and Gursimran’s family says she did not die by suicide.
The Nova Scotia Walmart where the tragedy unfolded reopened three months after her death, minus the walk-in oven. Last month, Nova Scotia's Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration found there had been no workplace safety violations in relation to the death.
Mother recalls haunting moment of discovery
Mandip and Gursimran Kaur both worked at the Walmart in Halifax in eastern Canada. The mother daughter duo had migrated from India to Canada in 2022.
Mandip Kaur said her panic began when she was unable to reach daughter on her phone during her shift at the store on October 19, 2024.
During her search, she asked the people around for her daughter’s whereabouts, “but everyone brushed aside thinking that she may be somewhere helping a customer, Walmart is a superstore after all!!”
Mandip then approached the on-duty managers and they began to search for the 19-year-old. (Also read: Over ₹1 crore raised for family of Gursimran Kaur, Walmart worker who died trapped in oven)
The Indian woman said that as she approached the commercial oven that was used to bake frozen bread, she noticed a black-brown liquid leaking from its rear end.
It was Mandip herself who opened the oven and saw her daughter charred to death.
“I couldn’t handle myself”
“I opened the door and she was there,” Mandip Kaur told the Daily Mail this week. “I couldn’t handle myself. I was there on the floor with her for five or ten minutes. I didn’t know what had happened.”
Mandip said that Gursimran’s body was charred beyond recognition. “Her body was not there. I could not see her,” the Indian woman said. “Within seconds, my life has changed forever.”
She realised that the tar-like liquid leaking out of the oven had come from her late daughter.
Speaking from the Halifax Sikh temple where she worships, Mandip said she is haunted by the thoughts of what her daughter had to undergo, and how long she screamed for help before she died.
The search for answers
The police do not suspect foul play in the Indian-origin teen’s death. Greg Hanna, Director of Communications for the Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration told the Daily Mail Thursday that the oven where Gursimran died “could be opened from inside.”
“No evidence was found that violations of occupational health and safety laws contributed to the death,” he added.
(Also read: Indian-origin Gursimran Kaur was pushed into oven, claim Walmart workers in chilling new revelation)
Gursimran’s family says she did not die by suicide — a possibility raised by investigators who ruled her death was “not suspicious”.
“Does she look depressed? She was so happy,” claimed Gursimran’s mother.
She revealed that after her daughter’s death, she received a package that the 19-year-old had ordered for herself. This suggested that she had no plans to take her own life.
As such, the family is still searching for answers.
“After 18 months investigation they are unable to discover what happened,” Mandip Kaur said. “They couldn’t find any solid thing. They don’t know. They don’t have any proof. No solid results. We are not satisfied.”
Kaur says she is now considering legal action against Walmart.
