Cutting corners led to building site death

AN INVESTIGATION into the death of two Indian students on a construction site last year has found that the accident that killed them was due to deliberate omission and not error.

Last September, two Indian workers were killed in an accident on a building site in Engomi. The 25 and 30-year-old builders died instantly when crushed by a four-flight staircase made of cement while working on a building under construction.

The collapse of the stairwell was due to efforts by the builders to keep costs as low as possible, is a general problem throughout the industry in Cyprus, the report found.

“Unless changes are made in this kind of behaviour, similar incidents are only a matter of time,” the report said. It added that the Engomi Municipality was also accountable since it had allowed the construction to go ahead without the proper permits.

But the main culprit was the householder, according to the report, for hiring unskilled student workers to carry out the construction.
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The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.