Three charged in construction site death

A safety officer, a civil engineer and another worker did not take adequate precautions to prevent a man from being killed by a falling wall, prosecutors say.

DUBAI // Three men have denied contributing to the death of a construction worker who died after a newly built wall fell on him.

The suspects – SB, a 50-year-old Indian safety officer; BG, an Indian worker, 34; and MS, 33, an Egyptian civil engineer at Al Shafar Contracting Company – told the Dubai Court of Misdemeanours the victim, DB, was alive when he was taken to the hospital and that the wall fell only on his upper body only.

Records showed about 7am on June 1, 2010, at the construction site of the Anwix project in the Gardens,

SB heard someone screaming. He ran to investigate and found the Indian victim lying on the floor, with the wall pinning his right leg while his entire body was free, records show.

SB said he noticed an injury to the victim’s head after he was pulled from under the collapsed wall. He added that the victim was wearing his helmet, but it had fallen off during the accident, records show.

They called the ambulance but by the time the rescue team arrived, the man was already dead, SB said.

Records show there was a gap behind the wall, which BG was filling with sand; that caused pressure on the wall and forced it to fall towards DB.

The wall was a part of a lift shaft, records show.

The next hearing was scheduled for February 3 for the suspects to present their defence.

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