Section of Unfinished Hotel Collapsed in Jamaica

The section of the Bahia Principe Club hotel decking that collapsed yesterday while under construction in Runaway Bay, St Ann.

Runaway Bay, St Ann –a section of decking, measuring about 800 square feet, at the Bahia Principe Club hotel, now under construction at Pear Tree Bottom in this north coast resort- collapsed last week injuring three workers, one of whom was in serious condition at the St Ann´s Bay Hospital.

The mishap occurred while concrete was being poured from a pre-mix truck onto a section of one of the upper floors of the building.

A crane and several other heavy-duty equipment were used to clear the rubble while workers looked on nervously to see if any of their colleagues were trapped beneath.

The hotel, being built by the Spanish-based Pinero Group in three phases, will be Jamaica´s biggest resort property with 1,918 rooms and a 900-seat conference facility. The first phase of 734 rooms was originally scheduled to be finished by October this year.

The hotel represents part of a massive influx of investment in Jamaica´s tourism sector by Spanish interests, said to be in the region of $1.3 billion.

It is the second time in a year-and-a-half that a section of a hotel under construction in St Ann has collapsed. In November 2004, a section of the 800-room RIU Club hotel in Mammee Bay gave way while concrete was being poured from a pre-mix truck.