Lamin Jaiteh discharged from hospital after construction site accident

Lamin Jaiteh was abandoned on the road by his boss following a two-storey fall before crawling his way onto the pavement for some safety

Photos uploaded by Caroline Galea
Photos uploaded by Caroline Galea

Migrant worker Lamin Jaiteh has been discharged from hospital after he was seriously injured in a construction site accident and was dumped on the road in Selmun.

“We have organised for a carer to tend to him whilst he is recovering from his back and arm injuries and the funds raised are helping to support him and his family whilst he is unable to work. We don't know if he will ever be fit for construction work again,” Caroline Galea said in a Facebook post.

Galea’s had uploaded a video which made the rounds on social media, showing Jaiteh Lamin weeping and crying for help after he was left stranded on the side of the road in Selmun by his employer, developer Glen Farrugia.

Testfying in court earlier in October, Lamin recounted the events that led to his two-storey fall and how his employer abandoned him on the roadside in Mellieħa.

“I couldn’t stay on the road because it was narrow. Only two cars were able to pass through in the opposite direction,” Jaiteh explained. “I used my elbows to drag myself onto the pavement.”

The employer told Jaiteh that he was going to take him to hospital.  He asked some workers to place him on a wooden plank in the car that acted as a makeshift stretcher. The workers then lifted him on the plywood and transferred him to a parked van with the company logo.

Jaiteh said he kept crying and asking for help in the van. When they approached a big roundabout in the area, his employer told Jaiteh that he was going to leave him somewhere and someone else will get him.

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Taking to Facebook, Galea said the “focus now is on Jaiteh getting better and ensuring this traumatic experience (as is the case with many similar incidences) doesn’t just disappear. This cannot keep happening.”

On Saturday, a 50-year-old Bulgarian man fell to his death from a a construction site at Triq Karmnu Abela in Ħamrun.

She described him as one of the “calmest people” she ever met.

"He is thoughtful, well-spoken and his laugh lights up the room. We've had some really intense days in hospital talking about the incident but it's really nice to see his smile and laugh more and more as he begins to recover from this traumatic experience," she said.

Galea also said activist are planning for another protest at the end of the month.

“We will be marching together to call for #justiceforjaiteh and reform in how we are treating people like Jaiteh. This will happen at the end of the month and I will make sure to circulate this info asap. Start preparing your signs,” she said.

A medical team assisted the victim but he was certified as dead on the spot.