Work death orphans five children

FIVE young Syrian children were orphaned yesterday after their father was killed at work, just a year after losing their mother.

According to police, the 35-year-old Syrian man had been working illegally on a construction site in Chloraka when a freak accident occurred.

The man had mounted a forklift without using the necessary protection and after being raised from the ground by a fellow worker, he fell head first, sustaining serious head injuries.

He was taken to Paphos General Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries.

The police said yesterday that the 35-year-old had been transferred to the hospital by a Romanian worker in a pick-up truck, who said he had been stopped by two men of Arabic decent and told to take their injured friend to the hospital. He claimed he had no other knowledge of the case.

Paphos CID arrived at the scene, along with inspectors from the Labour Office in search of the contractor, but they were told that he was away abroad. No other workers were found on the scene.

According to Paphos General Hospital Director, Filaktis Constantinides, the Syrian was taken to the hospital’s ER with a heavy head injury, bleeding from the nose, mouth and ears.

“Despite doctors’ efforts, the injured man succumbed to his injuries half an hour later,” Constantinides told reporters.

A number of the victim’s compatriots gathered at the hospital, one of whom said the victim was a single father of five children whose wife had died just one year ago.