Wife and kids of worker crushed to death at scrap metal plant won’t learn of tragedy until they arrive in UK for holiday on Sunday
Five men were killed under rubble and scrap metal when wall collapsed
THE wife and children of one of the men crushed to death at a Birmingham scrap metal yard won't know about the tragedy until they land in the UK on Sunday.
Five men were killed under tons of concrete and scrap metal when a wall collapsed on them at Hawkeswood Metal in Ashton Church Road, Nechells, yesterday morning.
The dead have been named as Alimano Jammeh, Ousman Jabbie, and Banagaly Dukureh, from Aston, Saibo Sillah from Edgbaston, and Mohammed Jangana of Winson Green.
Heartbreakingly, a friend of Alimano has revealed his family are out of contact and won't know about his death until they land in the UK this weekend, due on a pre-booked trip to see him.
The pal said: ""His wife and children are due to arrive on Sunday.
"They don't have any phones so there's no way of contacting them.
"We will only be able to tell them when they arrive that their husband and father has died.
"It is going to leave them heartbroken."
Two bodies have been extracted from under the rubble, but emergency teams are still working this morning to retrieve the other three men.
They were all working by a make-shift wall, made up of 1.5 ton concrete blocks, when it toppled on them.
A pile of scrap metal being supported by the wall also landed on top of them, killing them instantly but making the operation to extract their bodies very difficult.
Today the distraught brother of one of the victims pleaded with rescuers to bring his body.
Boubakaray Sera, 56, said to emergency services at the cordon to “Please God, take him out”.
Mr Sera, 56, from London, said he was the “only one left” after the death of his brother, Mr Dukureh.
He told reporters he had last spoken with his brother at Eid, to wish him well.
The father-of-nine said: “He was very healthy, there was nothing wrong with him.
“Then one day he came here and he’s dead.”
Mr Sera said his brother had a 15-year-old son.
Later he pleaded in tears with a police officer at the scene to bring his brother out.
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He said: “He wanted to go back to Gambia in October - now this has killed him.
“Please God, take him out. Since yesterday, how many hours?
“We have to bring him out - please, brother.”
He added: “We are patient, we aren’t animals.”
Heavy lifting equipment is being used to painstakingly remove each concrete block.
A sixth man clambered out of the debris and was rushed to hospital with "serious leg injuries".
All the men - Spanish nationals who originate from Gambia - were married.
Mr Sillah had three-year-old twins and Mr Jangana had a baby.
The Birmingham Mail has.
This morning it shot to more than £14,000 - just hours after it was established, smashing the £5,000 target.
The local Gambian community association said the men were working on minimum wage through an agency.
The Health and Safety Executive will investigate the accident once the scene is cleared to see where the responsibility lies.
The same site has been fined in the past for injuries to workers and was hit by a huge fire in February.
Piles of scrap material caught alight and needed more than 50 fire fighters to bring it under control.
Shabana Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Ladywood, has called for answers.
She said yesterday: "Nothing will bring their loved ones back but the families of those who have been killed will want answers."
PM David Cameron tweeted his condolences after receiving news of the tragedy.
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