OCHO RIOS, St. Ann:
THE ST. Ann Parish Council says it will be more vigilant in monitoring construction activities taking place at the Riu Hotel at Mammee Bay in the parish, following the collapse of a portion of the building and injury to two workmen on Monday.
Reports reaching The Gleaner are that shortly after 2:00 p.m., workmen were casting a concrete decking on a building on the B block of the building when it collapsed.
It was further reported that the men who were working at the time fled to safety but that several persons might have been injured.
It was a chaotic scene at the site Monday afternoon and police reinforcement had to be brought in to keep the situation under control. Shortly after 3:00 p.m. scores of relatives and friends of employees on the hotel site converged at the gate after it was reported on radio that a building on the site had collapsed and several workers were feared to be seriously injured.
Anxious to know the fate of their loved ones, the crowd of mostly women stormed the gate of the property pleading with security personnel to let them in.
However, it later turned out that there was no truth to the rumours that said persons had been killed. Workmen giving their account of the incident said it was a dramatic scene when the nearly 200ft of decking began to collapse and they said it was the grace of God why it happened at lunch time when most workmen were taking a break.
"Mi neva see man run so fast," said one worker who was observing from some distance. Another said that despite the seriousness of the situation, he and many others could not help but laugh to see people running for their lives.
- D.E.
