from Divvy Kant Upadhyay
Agency reports- (DKU)
Dubai, Nov 30: Two Indian workers were killed and three other men injured in a major scaffolding collapse at a construction site in Dubai Marina. Dubai Police rescue workers struggled for more than seven hours to free labourers trapped under the debris of iron, stone and cement at the work site.
The incident occurred late on Wednesday evening as the workers were trying to install an elevator in a new building. According to eyewitnesses, the scaffolding built up to the 35th floor of the residential block, suddenly collapsed, burying the men under tonnes of rubble and debris.
Rescue teams rushed to the area and had to dig out the trapped men. Two of the workers were crushed to death and died at the scene, while three others who were injured were taken to Rashid Hospital. Last night the men were described as being in a stable condition after emergency treatment.
The men who died worked for ETA Ascon - subcontractors at the work site.
"Our lift technicians had just started their work when the incident happened. We did not put up the scaffolding and the police are now investigating how and why it collapsed," said a spokesperson for ETA Ascon. The company has announced compensation of dhs93,000 plus three years salary for the family of each worker that died.
The main contractor for the building was Dubai Civil Engineering. Sources close to the investigation said yesterday that Dubai Municipality officials also visited the work site to investigate the cause of the accident. It is the second fatal incident this month reported at the Marina. An accident earlier this month killed seven men and injured 24 others.
IANS adds
IANS) Two Indian workers were killed and three others injured in an accident at a construction site here.
The deceased, identified as Nizamuddin, 25, and Sulaiman, 23, hailed from the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
The two men died when the scaffolding on the 27th floor of a building under construction in the Dubai Marina area here collapsed Wednesday evening, according to reports here.
"I did not understand initially what had happened. I saw a number of labourers fleeing from the scene, while many others were screaming for help," the Khaleej Times newspaper quoted an eyewitness as saying.
Dubai Police rushed all the injured to the Rashid Hospital.
"The victims, workers of ETA Melco Engineering Company were fixing the lift at the time. It took the hard task and the rescue team 10 hours to clear the iron rods and rubble and extricate the labourers trapped under them," a Dubai Police official told the newspaper.
By the time the search and rescue operations ended, two of the workers had died.
"When we arrived at the accident scene, we could not see the victims because there was a distance of about eight metres between us and them and the height was about four floors, as the victims were trapped in the basement," Captain Al Rahoumi of the Dubai Police told the Gulf News.
He said the rescue teams had to make an opening to reach the trapped workers, but the hole was sandy and weak, which made it difficult to dig into it.
"The rescue operation took a long time because first we had to stabilise the entrance because we were working under an unsteady scaffolding," he said.
M. Kamarajan, general manager of health, safety and environment of ETA Ascon Star Group of Companies, told the Khaleej Times that the families of the deceased want the bodies to be repatriated.
"We are trying to arrange that with the help of the Indian Consulate. We will give 93,000 dirhams (about$25,000) as compensation to the families of the two deceased and also salary equivalent to three years," he said.