The lifeless bodies of three workers were among the sewage. Two more spills onto a reinforced concrete slab. They wanted to save their fellow workers. A gesture as desperate as it was useless. They met their deaths without wearing a protective mask.
Yet another tragedy at work has the proportions of a massacre: five dead and a sixth worker in desperate conditions. They were working in a sewage lifting plant in Casteldaccia, a town a few kilometers from Palermo. A tank, six meters deep, became a gas chamber.
The victims are Epifanio Alsazia, 71 years old from Partinico, co-owner of the company Quadrifoglio group srl, which had won the contract from Amap, the company that manages the water service in Palermo and in around fifty municipalities in the province; the workers Giuseppe Miraglia, 47 years old from San Cipirello (Palermo), Roberto Raneri, 51 years old from Alcamo (Trapani) and Ignazio Giordano, 59 years old (Palermo). Giuseppe La Barbera, 26, a temporary worker at Amap, was also from Palermo. The sewage releases hydrogen sulphide which leaves no escape, especially if you breathe without any protection. The tank, which measures 5 by 5 meters and contained 80 centimeters of sewage, is accessed by going down two flights of stairs through a manhole.
Casteldaccia massacre, what do we know? The investigation into the Quadrifoglio Group, the under-employed workers and the absence of masks
THE ALARM
“Run, run…”: around lunchtime, a colleague of the victims raised the alarm and asked for help. He heard the screams coming from the plant. Shortly after 2pm, three fire brigade teams arrive on site, along state road 113. They have time to rescue the sixth worker from death, who is transferred by air ambulance to the Polyclinic. They intubate him, his lungs are marked by gas. «There was an amount ten times higher than the tolerable limit. If all the necessary precautions had been taken, all of this would not have happened”, explains the commander of the Palermo fire brigade, Girolamo Bentivoglio Fiandra.
The work began on April 29th. There had been repeated reports of sewerage anomalies due to a blockage. Amap has entrusted the order to the Quadrifoglio Group. It is a company with a fair amount of experience, 24 employees and a turnover of one million euros, founded in 2005. In recent years it had been awarded public contracts and orders in a highly specialized sector. One of the partners was Epifanio Alsazia, who would have turned 71 on May 15th, who also died in the accident. Alongside the external workers there were two others hired on temporary contracts by Amap. The company does not have the necessary professional figures and while waiting for new hires, it relies on a temporary company to recruit them when necessary.
The Termini Imerese Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation. The policemen of the Palermo flying squad questioned the Amap works director. It must be ascertained who was responsible for checking compliance with the safety regulations. Starting with the use of protective masks. «It’s absurd – explains the president of Amap Alessandro Di Martino -. The smell was such that it is not understandable why they did not protect themselves.”
The unions’ reaction was not long in coming: «We are shocked, we feel a profound sense of pain and defeat every time these very serious episodes happen, and today the entire system that should deal with prevention and health protection is being defeated. of the workers – say the general secretaries of CGIL and CISL Palermo, Mario Ridulfo and Leonardo La Piana, and Ignazio Baudo of Uil -. The world of work in Palermo today pays a very high and dear price in the battle for safety at work. We cannot believe that another five workers will not return home, this terrible tragedy leaves us dismayed.”
THE PROTEST
The response to the Casteldaccia massacre is the general strike for the first four hours at the start of today’s shift (8 hours for the construction sector) in the province of Palermo and a sit in which will be held at the same time from 9am in front of the Prefecture. “Every company, every production reality, must place the lives of workers as a priority – compared to any other objective”, they add.
THE INSTITUTIONS
The President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella, visiting New York, expressed his condolences: «I hope that full light will be shed on the dynamics of the accident. But yet another unacceptable massacre at work – just a few days before May 1st – must forcefully reiterate the need for a common commitment which must concern social forces, entrepreneurs and the relevant institutions”.
«The news of the workers involved in the tragic accident that occurred in Casteldaccia, in the Palermo area, is shocking – says Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni -. My deep condolences to the families of the victims, together with the feeling of closeness towards the worker who is currently in the intensive care unit at the Policlinico hospital in Palermo. Let full light be shed on this tragedy.”
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