DUBAI// Two workers died and another is in a critical condition in hospital after a roof fall at a labour camp.
The men, all from South Asia, were watching as maintenance work was being carried out at the accommodation in Al Quoz on Friday morning when the accident happened.
One of the three was a security officer at another nearby camp.
Dubai Municipality yesterday said they were investigating the cause of accident but suspected that the company did not have permits to carry out the work.
"A portion of the roof fell on them from the labour camp's building," said Ahmed Khalil, the municipality's principal safety engineer.
"The maintenance workers were erecting a crown shape decoration on the roof with the help of a cradle. The victims were curious about how they [the maintenance company workers] were hanging the cradle when it collapsed."
Mr Khalil, who was at the site on Friday to begin investigations, added: "It was something very silly and sad that happened.
"It seems that there were too many mistakes starting from working without permits. But it is too early to say what exactly went wrong."
A hospital source said: "The two men died on the spot and the other person was brought in with major abdominal bleeding.
"It was hard to tell whether the survivor's liver or spleen was bleeding. He was taken directly to the operation theatre."
Police were unavailable for comment.
Municipality officials said recently that nearly 100 accidents were reported in the first four months of this year - almost double the number from the same time last year.
Most of them involved objects falling from heights or scaffolding collapsing.
They blamed the increase on the revival of construction activity in the emirate.
In January, two workers died and nine were injured when scaffolding at a Dubailand work site collapsed on them.
The municipality is looking at increasing training for workers to ensure more compliance of its safety codes.
