3 trapped Bangladeshi workers confirmed dead
Rescuers recovered the bodies of three Bangladeshi workers, who were trapped under a beam that collapsed at a construction site in Petaling Jaya of Malaysia yesterday.
The victims are Mohammad Elahi Hossain, 27, son of Abdus Sattar, and Mohammad Alauddin Mallik, 34, son of Mohammad Shahadat Mollik, from Ishwardi in Pabna while Mohammad Faruk Khan, 38, son of Mohammad Hashem Khan, from Sirajdikhan in Munshiganj.
The migrants were working legally as construction workers for Malaysian Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRT Corp) from May this year, Musharrat Jebin, second secretary (labour) at Bangladesh high commission, confirmed The Daily Star by phone today.
The bodies of Alauddin and Faruk were recovered yesterday afternoon while that of Elahi was retrieved early Tuesday, according to a statement released by (MRT Corp).
The bodies were sent to Sungai Buloh Hospital near Kuala Lumpur for post-mortem and those will be sent back home by Wednesday or Thursday, the high commission official said.
The incident occurred at former Rubber Research Institute site around 8:30pm (local time) while construction of the parapet was being carried out on the elevated guideway, according to a statement released by Mass Rapid Transit Corporation (MRT Corp).
"A span of the guideway had dislodged from its piers and fallen on the ground below. The span, which was made up of 14 units of segmented box girders, was 38m in length and weighed 300 tonnes.”
A team of Fire and Rescue Department retrieved the bodies between 2:34 am and 1:35pm (local time) today, FRD Assistant Director of Operations Mohd Sani Harul said.
The bodies were taken to the Sungai Buloh Hospital for post-mortem.
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had expressed shock over the incident in his Twitter page and called for an immediate investigation.
"Shocked and saddened to hear about the MRT site accident. A full investigation must be carried out immediately to ensure this never happens again," Najib tweeted.
Chief Executive Officer of MRT Corp Azhar Abdul Hamid, who was at the site, expressed deep regret over the incident.
MRT Corp CEO Datuk Abdul Hamid has resigned over the deadly accident.
"As of tomorrow, I am no longer the CEO," he told a press conference at the site on Tuesday.
Contacted, Expatriates' Welfare Secretary of Bangladesh Khondakar Showkat Hossain told The Daily Star in the morning that he knew nothing about the incident. “We are trying to collect the information,” he added.
MRT Corp, in its statement, said no members of the public were involved in the incident as there was no access to the site and investigations have commenced to determine the cause of the incident.
"All work along Package V1 where the incident occurred has been suspended until further notice. The work package contractor for Package V1 is Syarikat Muhibbah Perniagaan dan Pembinaan Sdn Bhd," it said.
The High Commission Official Jebin said the Bangladeshis’ employing company had assured of providing all financial support to send back the bodies and to give compensations to their families.
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