Human error blamed for accident at new airport

HUMAN ERROR was yesterday blamed for the collapse of a roof at Larnaca Airport last august.

Alecos Michaelides, the head of the Communications Ministry’s Public Works Department, was yesterday invited to the House Communications Committee to offer an explanation on the sudden accident, which resulted in the injury of three foreign workers.

He told deputies that an investigation into the matter had showed that the workers had removed a horizontal beam from the roof without the necessary care and without being told to do so by their superiors.

“The human factor is to blame,” he told reporters after the meeting. “The workers were not ordered to remove the horizontal beam.

“There are a further nine such roofs that were built n the airport and there were no other similar problems.”

Michaelides assured the Committee that stricter measures had been taken since the accident.
“Today, all works are monitored by two supervisors instead of one to ensure constructions proceed without further problems.”

Committee members, however, were not satisfied with the explanation given and requested a more detailed investigation into the matter, which will include testimonies by the workers, most of whom are overseas workers on contract.

Back in August, shoddy scaffolding was blamed for the accident. Three men from the Philippines were injured when the five-metre tall roof collapsed and sent them crashing to the ground.

Luckily none of the three was seriously injured, though two of them suffered fractures.
“It was a miracle we did not mourn any victims,” Fire Chief Andreas Nicolaou said at the time.

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