Mérida, Yucatán — Aided by trained canines, rescue workers on Tuesday resumed the search for missing workers at Paseo 60.
Relatives of one worker, Enrique Javier Torres, 47, say he was working at the construction site and is unaccounted for. His bicycle, however, was found at the site.
Four masons were killed and 23 were injured Monday when the concrete-and-steel frame of a hotel zone complex collapsed.
The crane operator whose miscalculation caused the accident should not have worked alone, and in the dark, a union leader charged.
Four workers died when the concrete and steel frame of a twin hotel complex collapsed. It could have been prevented, said Bernabé Chan Castañeda, general secretary of the Alarifes Workers’ Union, Bernabé Chan Castañeda.
Days are short this time of year. The sun set at 5:16 p.m. the day of the accident, but work on the site continued until 5:45, when the crane operator’s deadly miscalculation occurred.
The operator of the crane was also working solo, and should have a helper to guide him, said Chan Castañeda.
There was no one to say, “to your left, to your right, a little higher, a little down, towards the center, that’s fine, stop!” he said.
The state will investigate any irregularities at the construction site, said Ricardo Béjar Herrera of the Labor Ministry.
The secretary of the construction of the Confederación Revolucionaria de Obreros y Campesinos (CROC), Heriberto Cauich Canul, said that the families of the four deceased albañiles will demand compensation.
“We will ask that the relatives of the victims be compensated according to the law,” said Cauich Canu. “In the construction of this complex, it can not be said that the necessary resources were not available to provide all the workers with the necessary tools for their safety.”
Source: Sipse
