Driver at second cruise ship pier site escapes death when excavator topples into the sea

Photo of excavator submerged in the water off Port Zante

541/2018

Basseterre, St. Kitts, June 14, 2018 – An operator of an excavator miraculously escaped death during an incident at the construction site of the controversial second cruise ship pier at Port Zante.

According to credible reports, an excavator toppled into the sea on June 8th when it lifted one of the huge boulders that protect the bulkhead at Port Zante.

The source said the driver who was trapped under water kicked out the glass section of the excavator to avoid drowning.

The incident happened last Friday, June 8, and the excavator remains submerged one week later on June 14. Work has since ground to a halt. Construction began earlier this month.

In keeping with the government’s policy of suppressing information, there has been no report of the incident from the contractors, the St. Christopher Air and Sea Ports Authority (SCASPA), the Minister of Infrastructure, Hon. Ian Patches Liburd, the Minister of Tourism, Hon. Lindsay Grant, the Minister of Labour, Hon. Vance Amory and the St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force.

Scheduled to cost EC$86.4 million under the then governing St. Kitts-Nevis Labour Party administration, the cost of the cruise ship pier ballooned to a whopping EC$129.6 million price tag – EC$43.2 million more under the Timothy Harris-led Team Unity Government.

SCASPA has secured a EC$91.8 million loan from National Bank to finance the second cruise ship pier. The St. Kitts and Nevis Social Security Board is putting in EC$18.9 million, the St. Kitts and Nevis Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation (SIDF), EC$13.5 million and the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla Trading and Development Company (TDC), EC$5.4 million.

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