Construction workers working on the expansion of the Muscat airport have downed tools after the death of a labourer.
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Thousands of South Asian labourers working on the expansion of Muscat airport downed tools on Tuesday in a rare strike. They demanded better safety conditions after a worker died in an accident, a company official said.
An Indian worker died when he was run over by a bus belonging to the contractor, workers and a BEB official told Reuters.
The strike will probably lead to further delays to the $1.8 billion contract to build a new terminal, which the Omani government awarded in 2010 to BEB, a joint venture of US company Bechtel and Turkey’s Enka .
“We will not go to work today unless our company assures us that they will revise safety standards in our workplace,” Mohan Raman, a worker with BEB, told the newswire.
“We have 10,000 workers and most of them are on strike,” said the BEB official, who asked not to be named. “We are improving safety standards to make sure such accidents will never happen again.”
A BEB statement sent to Reuters later on Tuesday did not refer to a strike, but said the company had “suspended work today (Tuesday) in respect for the deceased employee which is customary in the Indian culture.
“An investigation is being carried out by the company and the local authorities,’ the statement said, adding that work would resume on Wednesday.