Wall collapses at Dubai Airport, 8 dead
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-28 01:19

A wall collapsed at an airport construction site Monday, killing more than eight workers and injuring many more, a contractor said.

Workers at Dubai airport said they saw up to 40 casualties being taking away, but the toll could not be immediately confirmed. The airport issued a lower casualty toll, saying in a statement that five workers were killed and 12 were injured. It did not give the extent of the injuries.

Construction workers gather at left, after a wall collapsed at the Dubai Airport's new terminal construction site killing more than eight workers and injuring many others, Monday Sept. 27, 2004. The state-run United Arab Emirates news agency said the building site was part of a $4.1 billion expansion project for Dubai airport, one of the busiest in the Middle East. [AP]

"At least eight people were killed on the spot and some died in hospital, but we don't know how many," said an official of Al-Naboodah Contracting Co., the main contractor at the site. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

A large partitition in a building under construction collapsed, the contractor said. About 150 workers were on the site when the partition fell at 11 a.m.

"The wall fell down, and we all ran to help, but there wasn't anything we could do," said worker Daljinder Singh. "Rescue teams were very late in coming. It took them maybe one hour to arrive."

"I saw many, many of my colleagues being taken away," another worker said, before he was told to be quiet by a supervisor.

Other workers put the casualties at about 40, saying most were injured. They spoke on condition of anonymity. Police said there were casualties, but they did not know how many.

The Dubai facility, which bills itself as "the world's fastest growing airport," is being upgraded and expanded in a program costing $4.1 billion. The airport caters for 22 million passengers a year, and the expansion aims to boost capacity to 60 million passengers a year when it is completed in 2018.

The design consultant for the Terminal 3 construction is Aeroports de Paris International, according to the airport's official web site. The French firm also operates Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, where part of a terminal collapsed in May, killing four people.

"This wall has nothing to do with Aeroports de Paris," said spokesman Matthieu Monnet in Paris. "It was designed and built by another company."

Earlier a Dubai spokesman for the company said it had designed the building where the accident occurred, but was not involved in its construction.

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