A 25-year-old man who was seriously injured after suffering an electric shock at the country’s cargo port has died.
Leandro Payano was one of two workers badly hurt in the October 14 incident. Payano and Edgar Benjamin Alcantara, 32, had been employed by a cleaning company to carry out cleaning tasks on the south side of the port’s administrative building.
The accident is said to have occurred as the men were trying to relocate a multi-layered 40ft scaffold.
The scaffold reportedly slipped off the building and came into contact with high-tension APUA wires.
Both men suffered third and fourth-degree burns, among other injuries. Payano, of Martins Village, had been placed on a ventilator to help him breathe. He was later able to breathe unassisted, raising hopes for a recovery.
Payano was transported to the Dominican Republic for further treatment at a burns centre but died on Saturday evening after undergoing critical emergency surgery. Alcantara, of Tindale Road, remains hospitalised in Antigua.
The accident rocked the Spanish-speaking community with many people gathering at the Sir Lester Bird Medical Centre last week to lend support to the victims and their loved ones.
It has also brought safety at the port into sharp focus once again. Payano’s death is the second tragedy connected with the port in just three months.
In July, Denroy ‘Waka’ Harrigan, 59, died days after being crushed by a truck at Deep Water Harbour while unloading goods from a container.
