Drainage channel wall collapses in Kigali, killing two workers, and two people are arrested
The wall of a drainage channel collapsed on construction workers in Kigali, Rwanda, on Monday, Nov. 2, killing two of them and injuring a third. Two people were arrested afterward, The New Times reported the same day.
The New Times, Rwanda's English-language daily, reported that two construction workers died and one was hurt when the channel wall gave way, and that two people were arrested afterward. The paper published the story on the afternoon of the collapse.
Hard Hat Report could not confirm the rest. It is not yet clear who the two detained people are or what their roles were, which company held the contract, who the client was or where in the city the channel runs. It is also unknown whether the wall was new work, a repair or an older structure undermined by digging beside it, and whether any shoring was in place. No charges had been announced.
The arrests come a week after another failure in the city drew a hard response. On Oct. 27 Kigali ordered the demolition of an unfinished building whose columns crumbled under the floors above, a case Hard Hat Report covered at the time.
Why it matters: In Rwanda a death on a construction site can lead to arrests the same day. Contractors working there should keep shoring designs, inspection logs and supervision records on site and up to date.
Sources
- Two arrested after drainage wall collapse kills two workersThe New Times, Nov 2