An 18-year-old labourer is currently battling for his life at a city hospital after he was seriously injured on Friday afternoon when a co-worker turned on a cement mixer while he was inside of it.
Injured is Ricardo Nandlall, of Lot 46 South De Kinderen Line Top, West Coast Demerara (WCD), who had been cleaning the equipment.
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) yesterday said the incident occurred around 15.45hrs at the Forrester Lumber and Building Complex, located at Stewartville, WCD.
In a statement, the GPF said that after the accident ranks from the Leonora Police Station were summoned to the hospital, where they found Nandlall to be unresponsive.
As a result, they interviewed the proprietor of Forrester Lumber and Building Complex, Andrew Forrester, who related that about 15:15hrs Nandlall went into the cement mixer to clean it and one of his co-workers subsequently turned it on.
The proprietor said that the co-worker was unaware that Nandlall was inside of the cement mixer and only was alerted by his screams.
Nandlall, whose intestines were left protruding due to the severity of his injuries, was rushed to the Leonora Hospital, where he was treated before being transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH). His condition was listed as critical up to yesterday afternoon.
Although the actions of Nandlall’s co-worker were considered to be the result of negligence and not malice, Police Commander Errol Watts has confirmed that 22-year-old man was detained by the police pending an update on the injured youth’s condition.
