A horrific work accident in Lisbon today has killed at least one bricklayer, with another ‘almost certainly dead’ in the rubble.
As we write, sniffer dogs are still trying to locate the second worker – like the first victim, described as a family man from Fafe bused onto the site in the heart of the capital early this morning.
Colleagues have been lamenting the horror on national television saying “only a miracle” could see anyone coming out of the rubble alive.
Rescue coordinator Commander Pedro Patrício explained that “an interior part of the building gave way”, sending three storeys hurtling into a stairwell.
“There is no sound coming from the rubble”, CMTV heard from workers who have been back to the scene. “If anyone was alive, you would hear something”.
According to SIC television, “there could be a third person buried, and a fourth has disappeared”, but this has not been confirmed by official channels.
For now, all that is certain is that the men – both in their 50s – worked for the same company that has sites underway in neighbouring streets.
The building in Rua Alexandre Herculano is being transformed into luxury apartments, says CMTV, and has been had work going on inside it for the last three months.
It is described as a building from the beginning of last century, constructed with “the kind of supporting walls that can give way all at once”.
Town hall authorities are currently at the scene, alongside police, sapper firefighters and civil protection authorities.
Commander Patrício has warned that locating the second victim “could take time” due to the mass of rubble and scaffolding that has crashed three storeys into the rear facing stairwell.
