Five workers died in an industrial accident that occurred on Monday in Casteldaccia, in the Palermo area. A sixth was transported to Palermo hospital after being intubated. According to an initial reconstruction, workers from a private company were carrying out some sewerage work on behalf of the company that manages the water and sewerage pipes in Palermo.
The workers, seven in total, were doing maintenance work at a sewage treatment plant. Some of them fell ill due to hydrogen sulphide poisoning. One managed to get out of the plant and raise the alarm while the other six fainted due to the fumes.
They were rescued by firefighters and emergency ambulance workers who tried to resuscitate them on the spot. For five of them there was nothing that could be done; while the sixth was urgently transferred to the Palermo Polyclinic after being intubated. His condition is very serious and he is in a deep coma.
“There are investigations underway, I can only say that the workers did not have protective masks and when we recovered them they had already died despite the attempts of the health personnel to resuscitate them,” said the provincial commander of the Palermo Fire Brigade, Girolamo Bentivoglio Flanders.
Ambrogio Cartosio, the magistrate in charge of the Termini Imerese Prosecutor’s Office, opened an investigation entrusting the investigations to the police who questioned the director of the works and the safety manager of the company contracting the works.
