Ministry probing workers’ fall from Vreed-en-Hoop building

The building at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, from where the two men fell.
The building at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara, from where the two men fell.

The Ministry of Social Protection is currently conducting an investigation into the worksite accident where two men fell from a three-storey building at Vreed-en-Hoop, West Coast Demerara.

A ministry official told Stabroek News that the investigation into the matter began last week.

Safraz Mkeed, 21, and Timothy Sookwah, 26, were both doing construction work on a three-storey building at Vreed-en-Hoop when the accident occurred. A vendor, who was selling in the area when the accident occurred, had said that he heard two loud noises and then screaming.

An eyewitness had explained that the two men were both working on the upper flat of the building when Mkeed came into contact with some high voltage electrical wires that were running in close proximity to the building.

“…He mistakenly jam the wire and it pitch he straight to the back and he lash into the other banna and that is how he fall down,” the man explained, while noting that while Mkeed was only tossed to the second floor, Sookwah was thrown to the bottom of the building, where he was knocked unconscious.

The two men were picked up by some of their co-workers and rushed to the West Demerara Regional Hospital in a bus.

Mkeed was treated for minor burns and lacerations, while Sookwah was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, since he had sustained more injuries than his co-worker.

The two men have since been released from the hospitals and are at their homes recovering.