Scaffold collapse in Argentine airport terminal leaves at least one dead and 13 injured [View all]

[sandensea]

At least one worker was killed and 13 more were injured in Argentina when scaffolding in an airport terminal under construction collapsed this afternoon.

The collapse took place at 4:20 p.m. when a scissor lift snagged scaffolding in a new departures terminal at Pistarini International Airport, in the Buenos Aires suburb of Ezeiza.

The airport, the nation's second busiest, handled around 11 million passengers last year - including most of Argentina's airbound international visitors.

A number of the 100 workers at the site reported that work on the terminal, originally scheduled for completion on December 31, was being rushed by foremen.

"They had told us to finish the work by September 15," José, who works at the site, told C5N cable news host Antonio Fernández Llorente.

"But there was no way... and they were now telling us to finish by September 30 or we'd lose our jobs." Other workers at the site agreed.

Elections and deadlines

The date coincides with the beginning of the electoral ban period on public works inaugurals by officeholders - which extends 4 weeks before a federal election.

President Mauricio Macri, currently in New York for talks with the IMF over a stalled, $5.4 billion loan disbursement - part of a record, $57 billion bailout - was set to unveil the new terminal on that date.

The country's leading construction workers' union, UOCRA, filed a complaint at the Labor Secretariat - demoted from a cabinet-level ministry by Macri last year - against the subcontractor involved, Foste S.A., for repeated labor code violations.

The firm was established in December 2015 - just days after Macri took office.

These violations had already resulted in a suspension order by the Buenos Aires Province Labor Ministry on September 13 - but work resumed when, on September 16, Transport Minister Guillermo Dietrich visited the site.

Federal Judge Federico Villena ordered a federal probe into the accident. The firm that subcontracted Foste S.A., Caputo S.A. - a leading state contractor owned until last year by Macri's best friend, Nicolás Caputo - was also listed in the probe.

Polls show Macri losing the October 27 elections by at least 20% amid Argentina's sharpest recession since the 2001-02 collapse.

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First responders arriving at the scene of today's scaffold collapse in a new airport terminal under construction.

At least one death (up to three) and 13 injuries have been reported.

Workers reported being rushed to complete the terminal by September 30 - the last day before which public officials are, by law, barred from inaugurating public works 4 weeks before a federal election.

President Mauricio Macri, currently in New York seeking a $5.4 billion IMF loan, had planned on unveiling the new terminal on that date.

Amid the worst crisis in two decades, he trails his center-left challenger, Alberto Fernández, by over 20% in most polls.