This archive report was first published on 8 August 2020.
On Friday evening, 44-year-old James Mwangi Gathedo and 35-year-old Vikash Singh lost their lives when a silo bin they were using to offload fertiliser at the Portside Freight Terminals in Mombasa collapsed.
The incident, which occurred on August 7, 2020, also left six others with serious injuries and were rushed to Coast General Hospital Teaching and Referral Hospital.
According to Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) managing director Rashid Salim, the engineer from the private firm was installing the fertiliser bagging equipment at the time of the accident.
"We regret to confirm that an accident occurred inside the port at shed number 7/8 when some engineers from a private firm were installing a fertiliser bagging equipment," Salim said.
However, Dock Workers Union general secretary Simon Sang has called for the immediate suspension of fertiliser offloading and removal of the heavy machinery, claiming it was a recipe for disaster as it was allegedly installed on weak ground.
"We suspect the cause of the collapse of the equipment is poor quality of the work which was never inspected and certified by the safety department of KPA and quality engineers," Sang said.
