Third body found in Ajman hotel ceiling collapse

Ajman: A third body of a construction worker in the Ajman hotel collapse was found in the early hours of Tuesday morning, according to Ajman police chief, Colonel Ali Abdullah Alwan.

The other two were found at 7pm and 11pm on Monday. Three remaining construction workers trapped under the hardened concrete and are believed to be dead.

The concrete ceiling of the basement of the under-construction hotel collapsed on the workers while they were checking a leakage.

All the victims are Indian workers of Seidco General Contracting, which was building the Laguna Beach Hotel on the Corniche Road.

Police are questioning the site engineer, a consultant and two others.

The engineer said there was a leakage while the concrete was being poured and he had asked the workers to go down and check. "Within minutes the whole thing went down," he said.

Construction of the hotel was stopped twice earlier and work had been going on intermittently over the past two years, workers said.

Police shut off the Corniche Road as a massive rescue effort was under way to dig out workers trapped under setting concrete.

Rescue workers could not get the bodies out of the basement of the hotel under construction and had first deployed a crane which failed to lift the concrete. At the time of going to the press, the concrete was being drilled and broken into pieces.

"It is slow work," said one rescue team member, saying that hammers are being used to break the drilled pieces.

According to police one worker was injured and sent to Khalifa Hospital.

A large number of workers from nearby work sites rushed to help and police had a tough time as many curious passerby gathered around the site to see the rescue operations.

Workers of Seidco General Contracting have also been deployed in the rescue efforts.

The hotel worksite is just opposite the Ajman Chamber of Commerce and Industry building.

Three cranes of various sizes were brought in to lift the concrete and metal and wood debris from the site, but all have so far failed.

"The sniffer dog has shown us the spot where the bodies could be," said one member of the Dubai Police rescue team. Police said the site engineer is being questioned by police about the incident. A senior officer said the case will be transferred to public prosecutor after the investigations.

Dubai Civil Defence, Ajman Rescue Department, Ajman Civil Defence, senior Ajman police officials are taking part in the search and rescue operations.

Police said they cannot confirm how many people were buried beneath the concrete.

Colonel Ali Abdullah Alwan, Chief of Ajman Police, said according to the Seidco representatives the victims are six Indian workers. A spokesman from the company said it will investigate why the accident occurred.

Colonel Alwan told Gulf News the incident occurred at 2am while the workers, all Indians, were pouring concrete for the ceiling of the basement of the Laguna Beach Hotel under construction, located at Ajman Corniche on Shaikh Humaid Bin Rashid Al Nuami Road.

He said it seems the scaffolding or the frame work was not able to take the weight of the concrete causing it to collapse.

His Highness Shaikh Humaid Bin Rashid Al Nuaimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Ajman, inspected the site of the incident on Monday morning along with Shaikh Ammar Bin Humaid Al Nuaimi, Crown Prince of Ajman.