By Tamim Elyan
CAIRO: Four construction workers drowned when a bridge in Maadi collapsed early Wednesday morning, triggering an angry response from their families.
Tens of the workers’ family members and colleagues blocked the Maadi Corniche in front of the Military Hospital complaining of negligence, saying officials did not respond to their calls for help.
“We kept calling for help from officials and the officer in charge ignored us so we closed off the road,” said one worker who was on site during the accident.
The construction workers, three of whom were cousins from Al-Badrasheen village in Giza, drowned in the Nile while working on a bridge linking the shore with Maadi Island, which houses a public part administered by the army.
The military police arrived around 8 am when they dispersed protesters. Then the rescue operations began. At time of publication sources tweeting from the site said that two of the bodies were pulled out.
Daily News Egypt could not independently confirm the news.
Military police spread across the area to ensure the flow of traffic and surrounded the military hospital.
Workers complained that the bridge was fragile and was constructed without steel reinforcements.
