Cuban authorities confirmed that three port workers lost their lives while unloading rice in the province of Santiago de Cuba, after they were exposed to a toxic gas while carrying out their work.
According to José Antonio Olivares Díaz, general director of the Eastern Port Services Company, the incident occurred in the ‘Guillermón Moncada’ port, during the night of Wednesday, February 21.
The official points out that the three workers were exposed to toxic gas after they entered a warehouse that had just been fumigated, which was supposedly sealed.
The deceased, identified as Raiko Calzado Kindelán, Yosbani Patterson Duany and Roibel Bejerano Hernández, were rushed to the Military Hospital ‘Dr. Joaquín Castillo Duany’, but they could not be saved.
For his part, independent journalist Yosmany Mayeta Labrada indicated that Patterson Duany, 28, lived on Finlay Street in the Los Olmos neighborhood; while Bejerano Hernández lived in the El Castillito neighborhood and Calzado Kindelán, 29, lived with his wife and daughter in Micro 8 in the José Martí District.
Now, the Castro government has launched an investigation to clarify the facts, something that will be the responsibility of the Ministries of Public Health (Minsap) and the Interior (Minint).
The death of the workers generated confusion among Internet users, who questioned whether the company did not have adequate signs to warn about the dangerous fumigation.
The day after the tragedy, hundreds of people took to the streets of Santiago de Cuba to say goodbye to the deceased, marching along Martí Avenue while accompanying the bodies of the three workers.
Mayeta Labrada shared a video of the procession, making it clear that the news had impacted the entire community, since the number of people was considerably high.
These people continued to the ‘Santa Ifigenia’ cemetery, where the bodies of the workers were going to receive their last farewell from their families and loved ones.
According to the journalist, some relatives wrote to him to tell him that they did not feel completely convinced of the version given by the regime about this incident.
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