The Mossos d'Esquadra are investigating the terrible accident that yesterday at noon left a 24-year-old young man in critical condition when a piece of scaffolding that was being dismantled fell on his head, on Nou street on the Rambla del Raval in Barcelona. The victim, a Pakistani who was carrying refugee documentation, was riding his bicycle and stopped at the zebra crossing a few meters from the Catalan police station to let some passersby pass. At that moment, one of the bars of the structure that had been used to rehabilitate a façade fell from a height of ten stories.
The blow was terrible. The bar hit him directly in the head, fracturing his skull and the young man lost a significant amount of brain mass. The police at the door alerted the emergency services who still transported the young man alive to the Del Mar hospital. His condition is critical.
After the accident, the scaffolding company workers literally disappeared from the scene. They vanished. Shortly after, the two managers and three of the four operators showed up at the Mossos police station.
The Ciutat Vella investigation unit is in charge of the investigations. Last night they needed to locate, because he did not show up at the police station, the operator who had tied the bar to a rope with which the piece was to be lowered. The knot must not have been tied properly because the piece came loose and fell until it hit the victim. Investigators expect the worker to appear this Thursday to give a statement.
The Barcelona Fire Brigade went to the site and carried out an inspection of the rest of the scaffolding. The Mossos scientific police also carried out a report on the site and the Labor Inspection was alerted, whose technicians could approach the site this Thursday to carry out their assessment.
The Mossos located the victim's roommate in the afternoon, who offered to find the young man's family in Pakistan since he had been living alone in Barcelona for some time. The police also contacted the Pakistani consulate in Barcelona.
Last night the young man remained hospitalized in critical condition, and clinging to life.
Investigators are waiting to carefully analyze the documentation and permits of the scaffolding company, although after a first reading it seemed that everything was in order and the workers were regularized.
