Six Indian workers are feared dead after a ceiling in an under-construction hotel collapsed on them, media reports said.
The workers had gone to plug a leakage in the concrete ceiling of the basement of the hotel, which is located in Ajman emirate of the UAE on Monday.
One body was recovered by police about 16 hours after the accident which happened early last morning. By the time of recovery of the body, the concrete had hardened and had to be drilled out piece by piece.
A report in Gulf News on Tuesday said all the victims were Indian workers of Seidco General Contracting which was building the Laguna Beach Hotel on the Corniche Road in Ajman.
The police had, however, not identified workers nationalities by yesterday.
The police were questioning the site engineer, a consultant and two others, reports said.
The engineer reportedly said there was a leakage while the concrete was being poured and he had asked the workers to go down and check.
"Within minutes the whole thing went down," he said.
Construction of the hotel was stopped twice earlier and work had been going on intermittently over the past two years, workers said.
Rescue workers could not get the bodies out of the basement of the hotel under construction and had first deployed a crane which failed to lift the concrete.
"It is slow work," said one rescue team member, saying hammers were being used to break the drilled pieces.
According to police, one worker was injured and sent to Khalifa Hospital. Three cranes of various sizes were brought in to lift the concrete and metal and wood debris from the site, but all had failed thus far.
Chief of Ajman Police Col Ali Abdullah Alwan quoted Seidco representatives as saying that the victims were six Indian workers.
Meanwhile, a spokesman from the company said it will investigate why the accident occurred.
He said it seems the scaffolding or the frame work was not able to take the weight of the concrete causing it to collapse.
Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid, the rule of Ajman, visited the scene and expressed grief.
