A tragic accident has claimed the life of an Egyptian window cleaner at Tripoli’s Corinthia Hotel. He died after his gondola came crashing down from the 11th floor onto the roof of the hotel foyer.
The 34 year-old man, named only as “F.A.” was apparently still alive after the accident which happened on Sunday. Guests have reported that it took some 40 minutes for him to be rescued.
The Old Town police station has filed a report to say that the man, reported as a member of the hotel’s cleaning staff, was pronounced dead before he arrived at Tripoli Medical Centre on Sunday.
The impact was so severe that the gondola broke through part of the roof, and dust and debris fell into the foyer of the five-star hotel. A number of guests initially thought that there had been an explosion.
It is not yet clear what exactly happened.
The Director of Operations at the Corinthia, Lorraine Radford, told the Libya Herald today that she was unable to comment on the tragedy. The Libya Herald tried to contact the director of public relations for Corinthia Hotels but has not had a response.
The police report said that an investigation had been launched. One guest told the Libya Herald that he had been told that arrests had already been made. “This is very serious,” he said, “because somebody died.”
Although the interior ceiling of the lobby has been repaired, the damaged roof and broken gondola today remained on the roof. [/restrict]
