Fifth day of searches, conducted by the firefighters, on the construction site in via Mariti, in the Rifredi district of Florence where the last of the eight workers overwhelmed on 16 February at 8.52 am is still missing among the rubble of the Esselunga supermarket under construction. failure of a beam which caused three floors to collapse in a chain.
Missing from the appeal is Bouzekri Rachimi
, 56 years old, Moroccan.
Four confirmed victims whose bodies were recovered between Friday and Saturday, three injured.
Since yesterday evening the firefighters have been using a small excavator, a bobcat, to dig, in addition to demolishing the reinforced concrete rubble by hand.
The removal, the other night, of a 50 ton beam that was moving, would have made it 'simpler' to proceed even if since it is reinforced concrete, the iron rods inside have to be gradually cut.
Dozens of firefighters are still employed, with USAR teams - who change every four hours - and other personnel.
In the first few days there were even 80 policemen in one day.
Meanwhile this morning, a woman, in tears, placed red flowers in the area of the massacre.
About 500 meters from the construction site, a banner was put up with the words 'Pain and anger, Rifredi hates you!
No more deaths at work'.
For further information Agenzia ANSA Collapse in Florence, the prosecutor: 'Several critical issues on the construction site' - News - Ansa.it The search for the last missing person continues (ANSA)
The brother of a victim of the collapse: 'From Bergamo to Florence every day'
"He was only 19 years old when he left Tunisia to come to Italy. I remember that day when he left our city behind, saying goodbye to our parents, he was happy to leave, he wanted a different future, he boarded that ship and if went away, at that time you could travel freely between one side of the Mediterranean and the other".
The speaker, as reported today by Corriere Fiorentino, is Sarhan, the brother of Mohamed Toukabri, the 54-year-old Tunisian who was crushed together with other workers in the collapse of the construction site in via Mariti in Florence.
He is desperate, sitting in the corridor of Forensic Medicine, at Careggi hospital, waiting for the recognition of his brother's body.
Sarhan arrived from Naples, where he lives and where he works as a pizza chef, together with his niece Rim, the victim's daughter.
"They haven't shown us the body yet, investigations are still ongoing," he says.
Consoling him are the Imam of Florence Izzeddin Elzir and Fatima Benhijji, representing the Moroccan consulate which is following the other victims.
Sarhan cannot understand what happened: "I last heard from my brother a week ago, I saw him on a video call, he told me that in a few days he would come to Naples to visit me. In that video call he told me that he had transferred a few days before 500 euros in our parents' account in Tunisia, he sent the money home from time to time and this time he sent it to support our family during Ramadan."
He worked hard every day, he adds, "he lived in Bergamo, he told me that he left every morning in a van driven by others to reach the construction site in Florence, then in the evening he returned home, and then left again the next morning. It was hard work , so he said, he didn't earn much, they gave him half the money regularly, the other half was illegal".
"He went to visit our parents at Christmas last year, 33 years after he left - he still remembers -. It was terrible to inform them that my brother was under that rubble. He worked hard every day, not to go and die, you can't die working on a construction site, there are certainly responsibilities that I hope will be ascertained".
Worker: 'I saw the beam collapse but I would come back'
"On Friday we were working, I saw the beam collapse. Was everything still in order? Yes, we didn't see anything strange. Would I go back to work here? Yes. It's normal that while you're pouring concrete on a third floor underground, in correspondence, are there other workers who are working? Yes, we work like that. We were" not close to the site of the massacre "but when we heard that noise we all ran away".
This was told by one of the workers at the construction site in via Mariti in Florence, who was at work on Friday: the worker said he was "28 years old and came from Egypt".
The young man, who went outside the area, also told reporters: "We knew the victims, they arrived 10 days ago. Our company is called Ancora" from Signa (Florence), "I've been working here for a year. Even on Our boss is here now. How am I? Bad."
Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA