An 18-year-old labourer who is attached to the Forrester Lumber and Building Complex is battling for his life at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) after a co-worker turned on a ‘cement mixer’ unaware that the teen was inside the machine cleaning it.
Injured is Ricardo Nandlall of South De Kinderen Line-Top, West Coast Demerara (WCD). He has injuries to his abdomen and his intestines are protruding.
At around 15:45h on Friday, a doctor from the Leonora Cottage Hospital contacted the Police Station and requested that a rank visit the institution in relation to the matter.
Ranks were unable to speak with the victim and as such, proceeded to the worksite at Stewartville, WCD.
There, the proprietor was questioned by the investigators where he revealed that the teen had gone into the mixer to clean it but in the process, a 22-year-old operator – who was unaware that the young man was inside the machine – turned it on.
When this happened, Nandlall began to scream. Upon realising, the mixer was turned off and several other coworkers rushed to the teen’s assistance and pulled him out of the machine.
They then took him to the Leonora Cottage Hospital where he was referred to the Georgetown Public Hospital where he remains in a critical condition.
The 22-year-old co-worker who turned on the cement mixer was detained by the police. Commander Errol Watts has indicated that the co-worker remains in custody on the prisoner bench, as they await updates on the victim’s condition.
“Given at the moment, his actions were not malicious but suspected to be that of negligence,” the Commander said.
