An unfinished three-storey wooden house located in Diamond New Housing Scheme, East Bank collapsed yesterday afternoon causing injuries to two construction workers.
One of the injured workers identified only as Suresh is said to have suffered a broken arm while his colleague sustained a fractured leg and abrasions to the body. The men were taken to the Diamond Diagnostic Centre and later transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH) for treatment.
The unidentified worker was treated and sent away. However, Suresh was rushed to theatre and later admitted a patient
Residents from Fourth Street, Diamond said that around eight men were working on the building. Bishop Philbert London is reportedly the owner of the structure and is said to have been present at the site when the building collapsed.
Construction workers, residents said, had started working on the building in June.
According to a woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, she returned home minutes after the incident. “When I reach in de street I was surprised to see that the building was gone,” she stated. “I went over to de yard and talk to de workers.”
The woman, who lives close to the collapsed building, reported that the workers told her a high wind due to the stormy weather in the area caused the structure to come down.
“One of dem workers tell me that a high wind blow and next thing he know the building come crashing down,” she explained. “Two of the workers get injured and the Bishop take dem to de hospital.”
She further explained that she was at the Diamond Diagnostic Centre during the stormy weather. “Rain start about 2 pm and then we get blackout. I left de hospital at minutes to 3 to go back home,” the woman reported. “I ain’t feel no wind though… at least I ain’t feel no wind at the entrance of Diamond New Scheme.”
When Stabroek News visited the area yesterday afternoon all that was left of the building was a pile of boards and the concrete posts, elevated a few feet off the ground, on which the wooden structure once stood.
While lightning and thunder came with the rain, residents explained, there was no high wind. Other wooden buildings also partially constructed were intact and there was no other reported damage in the area.
“If is high winds cause that building to come down it got to be because it deh high up,” one man reported.
“That building was almost finished and they had the walls of the third floor and the roof to complete,” he explained.
