Contractor promised to take victim to hospital before ditching him in Mellieħa

A contractor who abandoned one of his workers in the road after falling two storeys had promised to take him to hospital before ditching him in Mellieha, the victim alleges.

Jaiteh Lamin, a 32-year-old man, is recovering in hospital after falling two storeys at a building site he was working at on Tuesday.

According to Lamin, the contractor he was working for gathered his workers to place Lamin at the back of his van, on a timber plank, after the fall. The contractor had promised Lamin that he would be taking him to hospital.

However, the contractor eventually pulled him out of the van and ditched him on the side of a road in Mellieha.

Caroline Galea, the woman who discovered the worker on Tuesday, visited him in hospital where he is now recovering from his injuries.

“Jaiteh got teary and thanked me and the three other people who stopped on the road before me to help him and told me he thought he was going to die,” she wrote on Facebook after the visit.

“He shared with me that he does not know if he will be able to work for some time, and has no way to make money now. He has two kids back home and a wife. His father has died so he also supports his mum,” she continued.

Galea said that a campaign will be set up to raise money for Lamin through Victims Support Malta.

In the video Galea posted to Facebook, the victim can be seen pointing to his right arm, which is bound in a cast. “The doctor told me they’re going to remove it because the bone broke on this side, so they have to reconstruct it.”

Galea emphasised that this should not be considered an isolated incident. “This is an ongoing issue, and it is disingenuous to try to report otherwise. This man was being paid 50 euro to work 11 hours a day. This is not the only site this is happening on.”

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