‘I watched my nephew die’ – survivor

Watching his nephew die is something that will stick with Alvin “Razer” John for the rest of his life.

John and his nephew Kelvin “X” Richards, both labourers of Montaque, Mesopotamia, were digging a trench to build a wall to reinforce an existing wall that barricades a private property in Evesham when the wall fell on both men. The incident took place around 10:20 a.m. last Tuesday.

John escaped with minor injuries, but Richards died on the spot.

“I feel more than how I believe his parents feel it, because he is my nephew, my sister only child and I give him somewhere to live, so the friendship and bond is very strong,” John told SEARCHLIGHT yesterday.

John said that he was digging and Richards was using the shovel to move the dirt at the time of the accident. He said he finished digging the foundation and stepped out of it and walked past Richards, and about five seconds after he heard Richards shout “Razer!”

“I turn around and the wall hit me on my shoulder and I look and see he have one foot stuck in the foundation, so I run to try to hold up the wall and I was crying because I frighten, because the wall hit me and then it come down on him and I had to watch him suffer,” said John.

He said that the initial piece of wall that collapsed is what trapped one of Richards’s legs inside the trench and stopped him from getting out of the hole.

He said he ran for help, but the persons who came could not get the wall off Richards and he had to watch him fade away. John said Richards took a while to die and during the ordeal, they cleared away the dirt from around his face, so that he could breathe, but Richards could not talk.

The men were employed with contractor Adolphus Williams and John said that Williams was contracted by Coreas Hazells Limited for the project.

However, John said that he is upset because nobody from Coreas has so far contacted him.

“I been working with Adolphus a while now and we built couple houses. It real sad for me that nobody telling me anything, plus I lose my close friend,” said John.  

“We were working for Coreas and so far, they ain’t want to involve; they backing out and that is going to leave a scar. The incident occurred, and I got injured, swollen arm and few bruises, so I really like this to go out, because a lot of people talking, and they don’t know what happen,” said John.

On Wednesday, division manager Building Supplies at Coreas Brian George said that Williams was contracted by Coreas under the company’s Home Solutions initiative, but Williams is a private contractor and is not employed by the company.

“We are extremely sorry for what happened, and we would like to extend condolences to the family,” said George, calling the accident tragic.

He, however, noted that Coreas acts as an agent for the customer, but they do not get paid for being an agent, as the job is handed over to the contractor.(LC)