BRUSSELS – Five building workers were confirmed dead yesterday, a day after a school construction site partially collapsed in the Belgian city of Antwerp.
The last two bodies were pulled out of the rubble yesterday afternoon, said the city’s fire officials, meaning that all the missing victims are now accounted for.
King Philippe visited the scene yesterday, accompanied by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
Two of the dead were from Portugal and Romania, police told local media, while the nationality of the other dead workers is not yet clear.
But when three people were still missing, rescue workers had said they were looking for another two Portuguese and one Russian.
Nine others were injured in the incident on Friday afternoon, with three still in intensive care a day later, but not in critical condition, tweeted the Fire Department.
As the school was still under construction, no students were present when the accident happened.
The cause of the collapse is not known, but all the victims were sub-contractors for construction firm Democo, reported the Belga news agency.
“All the employees are devastated,” Democo managing director Frederik Bijnens told Belga.
“Now that the emergency services have done all they can, a thorough investigation will begin to identify the cause of the accident.” – AFP, June 20, 2021
