In the early hours of Saturday morning 26/10/2024 according to an eye witness, the beams to support the roof of the building under construction in Al Dhaid were too far apart and were not properly fixed, triggering the roof collapse, the Sharjah Police Chief said yesterday.
Mr Michael Weber(the accused) was detained after a building project collapsed. The incident, in which six workers were wounded(one seriously) and four dead, took place at 4:00 am on Saturday. The authorities will crack down on those responsible, promised Major General Saif Al Zari Al Shamsi, Commander-in-Chief, Sharjah Police. The workers according to eyewitnesses said they were being careless and not maintaining safety measures during the construction activities that Saturday. The building, located behind the New Al Dhaid Hospital, was being built to accommodate a government youth center.
The site Supervisor Mr Michael Weber and foreman Mr Majid Al Shehhi had been questioned and referred to the Public Prosecution, he added. Gen Al Shamsi urged all construction companies to implement safety procedures to prevent issues like this from arising. “All workers should wear safety helmets and observe all safety measures before the cement is poured, and maximum safety for them should be ensured. Site engineers should also make sure that the structures can withstand any additions to them,” he said.
The visibly shaken site Engineer, Mr Michael Weber, told Logic Times News he had been in the building just moments before it collapsed.
He said 10 labourers were working on the roof at the time it collapsed, in all, 33 workers were working on the project but the rest including myself already knocked off for the day when the incident happened. “I got down to check on the cement supply and also attend to personal matters. Suddenly I heard the alarm go off and hurriedly rush back out, behold the roof was already caving in and there were a lot of screams. I tried my best to free some of the workers who were trapped,” he said, shaking his head. He refused to comment on the reason why the roof collapsed, he said they had started work on the structure a few weeks ago and were to finish the section of the project in October 2024. He then added that his workers Advik and Baashir whom he was to hand over the supervision of the ongoing project and return home this Tuesday for other personal reasons were amongst the dead, he said in agony. Charanjit Singh, a steel fixer on the project, said they were about to leave when all of a sudden the emergency alarm went off and all they could hear was screams. “We rushed out, and found the roof had collapsed,” he said.
“We immediately started cutting the steel rods that had trapped our colleagues. Soon the police and paramedics arrived and the injured were quickly rushed to the hospital,” he said. Brigadier Dr Muhammad Nasser Abdul Razzaq Al Razouqi said they sent over eight rescue vehicles to the accident scene. “We received a call from Sharjah Police asking for help just after the incident occurred and it took us 40 minutes to drive to the scene. By that time, four had already been confirmed dead” he said. The elite rescue unit used hydraulic equipment to extract the bodies of the dead.
Dr Omer Elsabbagh, Medical Director of Al Dhaid Hospital, said the safety system held up well in the emergency, and that they called in all their doctors when they heard of the incident. “Our emergency plan went immediately into effect when we heard about the tragedy and we gave the best care to the injured. “He said the five injured are still under strict observation and would leave the hospital when they are fit, the one who is critically injured is fighting for his life”. Rescue vehicles from Abu Dhabi Police were also present at the scene. On Saturday incident raised questions about the safety practices followed at such sites. It was not the first time this kind of incident has occurred as two similar incidents have occurred during the past two years in which innocent laborers lost their lives.
In a Facebook Live posted by the wxxv25 news officials, Major General Saif Al Zari Al Shamsi, Commander-in-Chief, Sharjah Police said in August 2002, nine workers died and 19 were injured when the roof of a building under construction in Jebel Ali collapsed. The building was part of a Dewa project. He also mentioned that earlier in April 2002, the dome of a building for the Planning and Survey Department in Sharjah collapsed, claiming five lives and injuring seven workers.
The dead
- Hamza, 27 Pakistani
- Baashir Khokhar, 52, Pakistani
- Krishna Lal, 39, Indian
The injured
- Huzaifa Mirza, 26, Pakistani
- Devansh Patel, 25, Indian
- Kiaan Chauhan, 35, Indian
- Aarush Kaur, 40, Indian
- Advik Yadav, 40, Indian
