Worker battled death for hours in debris

HAMEED Sultan, one of the survivors of the Dubai Marina scaffolding collapse incident, said he battled death for about ten hours before he was rescued from the rubble.

"I have never seen death from such close quarters. One of my colleagues died right in front of my eyes and I thank my stars for being alive," said Sultan, 23, while speaking to The Gulf Today from a hospital bed in Dubai.

Sultan is among the three workers who were rescued by Dubai Police when a scaffolding of a building under construction collapsed in Dubai Marina on Wednesday evening. The team was working at basement level 3 to install an elevator when the incident took place at around 5:30 pm.

Two of his co-workers Nizamuddin, 25, and Suleiman, 23, died instantly.

Recounting his harrowing experience, Sultan said one of his dead colleagues was alive for about half an hour.

"I was speaking to Suleiman for about 30 minutes before he died. He was writhing in pain and said he cannot handle it. Suddenly he stopped talking, it was then I realised that he is dead," said Sultan, who hails from Tamilnadu, India.

Sultan said that the heavy load of scaffolding he was trapped under did not allow him to move an inch from the place where he was lying.

"I remained motionless for about ten hours till police rescued me at around 1:30 am the next day. My right hand was underneath a load of wooden plank while my left leg remained buried under the metal debris. I would have lost my life if Dubai Police had not dug up a hole to pull me out in time," he said.

He expressed sorrow over the death of his two colleagues, who were also his good friends.

"It's sad that I would not be able to work with my two colleagues again. They were sincere workers and good friends," said Sultan, who is a lift technician with the ETA-Ascon company.

The accident, however, has not demoralised Sultan as he is raring to get back to work once he recovers. "I have a bandage on my right hand and my left leg is slightly swollen. I hope to be fully fit in the next two weeks to resume work," he said.

M. Kamarajan, General Manager of ETA-Ascon said that they are making preparations to repatriate the bodies of the two workers. "We are waiting for the clearance from Dubai police to repatriate the bodies. Next of kin of the deceased will be paid Dhs93,000 as compensation apart from three years' salary," said Kamarajan.