On May 30, 17-year old Jaup Begotaraj died in a Vlora construction site after being accidentally hit by an excavator at the site.
The police have arrested the excavator’s conductor and the construction site’s technical director.
After it was uncovered that the minor was working informally at the construction site, likely one of the 50,000 Albanian children that work to ensure the survival of their families, a number of unions and labor NGOs came forward to denounce the lack of safety conditions that lead to his death at work.
This is the sixth construction accident that has ended in a worker’s death this year.
A total of 34 workers were killed at work between January and November 2019, 15 of which worked in construction, making the industry Albania’s most dangerous.
In 2016, Ardit Gjoklaj, another 17-year-old boy died after being hit by an excavator while working at the Sharra landfill in Tirana. He was employed illegally and without social security by the private-public partnership promoted by Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj as an exemplary opportunity for work.
