Two of nine builders of the Dushanbe Central Mosque, who fell yesterday from a 60-meter height after construction staging collapsed, are receiving treatment in an intensive care unit, the deputy head physician of the National Medical Center (Qariyai Bolo Hospital), Sulaimon Safarov, told Asia-Plus by phone today morning.
According to him, three other builders still remain in the Center’s traumatology ward.
“In all, ten builders were taken to the hospital yesterday, but one of them refused hospitalization,” said Safarov. “Health conditions of other builders do not cause serious concern.”
Meanwhile, prosecutors are considering the possibility of instituting criminal proceedings under the provisions of Article 190 of Tajikistan’s Penal Code — breaching construction and mining safety requirements.
Recall, nine builders of the Dushanbe Central Mosque were injured yesterday after falling from a 60-meter height.
“The accident took place at the site for construction of Dushanbe’s Central Mosque Monday morning. Nine builders fell from a 60-meter height after construction staging collapsed,” Umeda Yusufi, a spokeswoman for the Emergencies Committee, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
According to her, they sustained various injuries and were taken to the National Medical Center (Qariyai Bolo Hospital).
Construction of the Dushanbe Central Mosque, which is expected to be Central Asia’s largest mosque, is nearing completion in Dushanbe.
President Emomali Rahmon began construction of this mosque not far from downtown Dushanbe in October 2011, a month after officially raising the country’s flag on the world’s tallest unsupported flagpole in Dushanbe.
The mosque is expected to be able to accommodate up to 120,000 worshipers. When completed, Tajikistan will be home to the Central Asian largest mosque, dwarfing the Turkmenbashi mosque in neighboring Turkmenistan, which can hold 10,000 people.
Critics are saying the mosque is an extravagance and that the money would be better spent on poverty reduction.
