THE SCENE of the fatal accident on Saturday morning after a water tank fell and killed a worker.
By DENISE MAYCOCK
Tribune Staff Reporter
dmaycock@tribunemedia.net
A 42-year-old Water and Sewerage Corporation employee died during a freak accident in Sweeting’s Cay over the weekend.
Tony Lamont Scriven, manager of the corporation in Abaco, was inspecting the water plant with several other employees on Saturday morning when a water tank collapsed and fell on him around 10am.
He was overseeing the inspection of the new reverse osmosis plant and the three water tanks that store 20,000 gallons of water on the cay.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Bernard Bonamy, Jr, and a team of investigators travelled to Sweeting’s Cay after the incident.
ACP Bonamy told reporters that Scriven was making a call when the middle tank suddenly collapsed and landed on him. The man reportedly went under a concrete structure bolstering the tank to shield from the rain.
Police, assisted by some residents, removed his body under the tank. A medical doctor pronounced him dead.
ACP Bonamy said the police will work closely with the Ministry of Works to determine what caused the structure to collapse.
The police will take the body to Grand Bahama for official identification and an autopsy on Monday.
Darius Curry, a two-year WSC employee, accompanied Scriven to Sweeting’s Cay. He described his boss as diligent.
“He was a great loss to us,” said the 24-year-old. “He was young, smart, and always believed in getting the work done first: work before play. He used to organise these projects and encouraged us younger workers to go to the Family Islands for more experience and exposure in different systems because we do not have a reverse osmosis system in Abaco.”
According to Curry, Scriven was also a family man with a wife and four children.
His death shocked Abaco.
“The community on Abaco is devastated following the loss of a well-known young man who was in charge of the WSC,” said Pastor Silbert Mills, a prominent leader on the island.
Scriven was not an Abaco native, but relocated there with his wife, who is from Murphy Town.
Sweeting’s Cay has experienced severe water shortage issues in the past. WSC Assistant General Manager for the Family Islands Division Gregory Stubbs said in 2021 that Samaritan’s Purse and CORE, two non-governmental organisations, donated a new reverse osmosis system and four water storage tanks to address the issue.
Comments
Sickened 1 year, 2 months ago
Just horrible! Horrible!!! I highly respect those who helped remove his body. That takes some serious inner strength and peace to volunteer for that task.
bahamianson 1 year, 2 months ago
So the contractor whom built the cement foundation may be in trouble. Let engineers exam and test the cement foundation. It should have been strong enough to withstand the weight of the tank,; it was not. The contractor may have taken short cuts and not added the required amount of steel.
observer2 1 year, 2 months ago
Bahamianson, my condolences to the family.
May I humbly speculate that with the recent incident of a school roof which did NOT collapse according the politicians we maybe advised that the tank did not collapse either, that the contractor had self insured and may have been given a verbal contract and there are no structural engineering reports or approvals.
Having been without water for years after the hurricane it may have been in the greater good to rush this project to bring portable water to the people.
Of course in a day or two this story will scroll down the page and we will move on to the next horror in da 242.
Honestly I wake up every morning to look at the 242 news to see what new unbelievable thing has befallen my country.
M0J0 1 year, 2 months ago
The contractor and the company need to be sued. Gross negligence.
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