DUBAI // A Bangladeshi worker from a private scrap company who was found dead at the Dubai Municipality landfill in Al Qusais this morning has been identified.
Municipality officials suspect that Mohammed Bahar Miah, 30, an employee with the Sardar Ali Sons Scrap Trading LLC, may have been run over by a bulldozer last night. However, the body was found only this morning.
"At night, the worker was hit by a bulldozer or some work equipment," said Naji Alradhi, head of the municipality's waste treatment section at the Waste Management Department.
"Only this morning, the body had been found. It was probably because the safety procedures were not followed by the company," he said.
Mr Alradhi said police investigations into the death had just started.
"We still don't know what happened," a spokesman for the company said. "We are a little disturbed. All of them were working together at the site last night. We got to know only at 8am this morning. The other workers on the site reported the accident."
The spokesman said other workers reported the matter after they had failed to locate Mr Miah. However, the spokesman said he did not have details on how the accident happened or if there had been a breach in safety procedures.
"We will know only after police investigations," the company official said.
He estimated that over 100 workers from the company were on duty at Al Qusais Waste Disposal site.
The deceased man had recently joined the company and was tasked with loading recycled materials such as plastics, paper and aluminium. The company said it was in touch with the deceased's family, and would repatriate his remains once investigations were complete.
Al Qusais landfill is one of the oldest and largest dumping sites for general waste in the UAE. It was established in the 1970s and spans more than 3.5 kilometres. It receives more than half of the general waste - 4,000 of 7,000 tonnes - generated every day in Dubai.
pkannan@thenational.ae
