As of: February 20, 2024, 4:47 a.m
By: Moritz Bletzinger
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Four people are dead and another is missing.
There is great consternation in Italy after the collapse of a construction site in Florence.
Update from February 18th, 9:43 p.m
.: After the collapse of a concrete wall on a supermarket construction site in Florence, the search for a missing Romanian worker continued on Sunday (February 19th), reports the Italian news agency Ansa.
The hope of finding him alive is vanishingly small.
Four other workers died in the accident on Friday morning.
Italian Labor Minister Marina Elvira Calderone on Sunday visited three workers in hospital who were injured in the accident, local newspaper
La Nazione
reports .
She also took part in a prefectural meeting on workplace safety.
In the wake of the accident, unions are calling for the safety protocols that apply to public sector workers to be extended to the private sector, reports Ansa.
Construction site accident in Italy: “The whole city is very affected by this tragedy”
Update from February 17th, 7:00 p.m.:
After the terrible incident at the construction site on Via Mariti in Florence on Saturday morning (February 17th), investigators are now busy reconstructing the course of the accident.
The whole city is shocked and mourning after the collapse.
That's why there was a minute's silence in front of the Palazzo Vecchio in the afternoon.
“I think the whole city is very affected by this tragedy.
I can’t remember ever having such a serious industrial accident in our city,” said Dario Nardella, mayor of Florence, according to
La Nazione
.
The Pope expressed his condolences in a letter in which he also thanked the numerous helpers who took part in the rescue efforts.
Labor Minister Marina Calderone has announced her visit on Sunday (February 18) to convey the government's condolences, as reported by the news portal
La Nazione
.
Several deaths are reported after a collapse at a supermarket construction site in Florence
Original report from February 17th:
Florence – The collapse of a supermarket construction site in Florence has claimed at least four lives.
There is deep consternation in Italy and a city of mourning was declared in the Tuscan capital on Saturday.
Meanwhile, firefighters continue to search for a missing person in the rubble of the planned Esselunga branch.
The accident occurred in the heart of the busy working-class district of Novoli.
Large-scale operation and investigations after the collapse of a supermarket construction site in Florence.
© Vigili del Fuoco
Collapse on supermarket construction site in Florence: Consternation in Italy - terrible descriptions
The local newspaper
La Nazione
reports: “There has never been such a massacre here before.”
According to the paper, eyewitnesses describe scenes that occurred at the construction site.
A woman who works in a nearby hair salon recalls: “An earthquake, I immediately thought of an earthquake.
Then those screams.
So strong, cruel that I can still hear them in my ears”.
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The waitress at a nearby café tells of “yelling and screaming”.
She had been serving the workers almost three hours before the disaster.
“At six o’clock they were drinking coffee and smiling…” she says.
Then came the devastating collapse of a multi-ton reinforced concrete girder.
Construction site accident in Italy: rescue workers search for survivors under the supermarket rubble.
© Vigili del Fuoco
Many passers-by witnessed the accident.
Two of them reported seeing a face covered in blood and dust.
“We looked at the fence and saw an injured man.
He wanted to get up, but we told him: Don't move, stay calm, the ambulance is coming," they say.
The first rescue workers arrived about ten minutes later.
The fire departments in the region are tried and tested; severe storms recently raged in Tuscany last summer.
No iron in the steel beam?
Worker makes serious allegations after construction site collapse
The fire department was able to rescue three men alive from the rubble.
“I fell into the void, it was hell,” one of them, Cristinel Spataru, tells
La Nazione
the next morning .
He was pouring concrete on the iron grate of the roof when everything collapsed around him.
The concrete pylon took down two floors and caused a third to collapse.
Critical voices immediately became loud in Italy.
Various media suspect material defects or poor design.
Construction worker Spataru has a suspicion and a serious accusation: “You can see that there was no iron in the beam.”
Disagreements at a construction site in Florence – deaths cause an outcry in Italy
The trade union federation CGIL points out contractual discrepancies at the construction site.
“The victims are workers who had metal work contracts but who carried out construction work,” says secretary Daniele Calosi to
La Nazione
: “A contract is used that has lower costs in order to save money.” Most of those involved in the accident According to media reports, men come from Romania.
The public prosecutor's office has already inspected the ruined construction site and is not ruling out foul play.
He is being investigated for multiple homicides.
The mayor of Florence, Dario Nardella, said in an interview with
Corriere della Sera
: “For years we have been denouncing the gigantic problem of subcontracting.”
He emphasizes: “Now is the time of mourning, but from tomorrow we have to say seriously and once and for all: We are tired of crying.” Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi also calls for more security on construction sites and says: “Obviously in this one In case something didn’t go well.”
“We have to stop the trail of blood”: Unions call strike after construction site collapses
The CGIL and UIL unions have called for a nationwide strike on Wednesday (February 21).
They speak of “another unbearable workplace tragedy” and demand: “We must stop the trail of blood and we must do it now.
Putting the protection of life first.”
(moe)
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