Old tower falls, while two of the workers there snapped to hang

Middelkerke In Middelkerke are two workers from Heist-op-den-Berg was hit in the degradation of the transmission towers of the former communication centre ‘Ostend Radio’ in the Hector Verhaegelaan.

The workers were at the top of a mast secured to the mast to attach to a faucet. The employees had the past few days have been four masts broken off and were busy with the fifth instance. Shortly before the afternoon began the same, however, to tilt. The pylon came with a hard crash on the ground. The two workers of Princen Contractor from the hills of Gingelom fell to the bottom.

“The workers were still clipped to the cases in mast when we are on-the-spot came in. We have a piece of the mast by have to cut with the material that we normally do cars open cut,” says brandweerkapitein Frank Ureel.

Injuries

The victims were on the spot provided and go to the AZ Sint-Jan in Bruges, was transferred. According to the arbeidsauditoraat of Bruges was a 23-year-old victim from Heist-op-den-Berg so seriously injured that the mughelikopter him had to transfer to the hospital. The second victim (21), also from Heist-op-den-Berg, was conscious and was with the ambulance under the guidance of mugartsen to the hospital.

The site is currently closed, and the arbeidsauditoraat conducts research into the circumstances of the accident. “Monitoring well-being at Work is called upon to determine whether there is breach of the welfare legislation and the regulations around safety at work. The exact cause of the accident is not yet known. The workers wore, according to the initial findings, however, fall protection,” according to the arbeidsauditoraat of Bruges.

Subcontracting

The seven pylons are the property of the ministry of Defence. They were in 1937, raised in Moscow and served as a means of communication between the shipping and the country. Since 2015 they are decommissioned because the communication centre permanently to Ruiselede moved. Ministry of Defence tried the cell towers as long as two years to sell, but there was, however, no buyer was found because the cost of the degradation is not offset against the proceeds of the metal. Under the leadership of the former minister of Defence, Sander Loones (N-VA) decided to Defense the pylons than to let you break down in the subcontract.

The works were at the beginning of december started, but now for an unknown duration still. Future mayor Jean-Marie Dedecker (LDD) had already know that the municipality of Middelkerke are interested in the domain about to buy the infrastructure from the extend.