Yekepa- The family of the late railroad technician of ArcelorMittal Liberia is accusing the company of intentionally murdering its relation, but the management of AML has.
The late Mr. Macdonald P.S. Dolo was one of two AML workers who died on Tuesday, January 11, 2022, after a rail equipment carrying maintenance crew came in contact with loaded wagons stationed on the rail line around Kilometer 196 in Nimba County. Four other employees are seriously injured and said to be on critical list, according to eye witnesses.
According to a statement issued in Yekepa, the Dolo Family says Arcelor Mittal’s complete negligence, neglect and recklessness in the aftermath of the deadly train accident is nothing short of a deliberate murder. The Dolo Family says it therefore demands answers from the company over the loss of its loved one who didn’t have to die on duty under such a reckless manner he did.
But in a press release received by this news outlet on Saturday, January 15, 2022, ArcelorMittal management did not comment on the specific allegation from the late worker’s family blaming the company for the incident.
The AML management vowed to continue to support the bereaved families and families of those who suffered injuries.
“Following the tragic rail accident of 11th January 2022 in which two of our dedicated staff lost their lives, ArcelorMittal Liberia continues to support the bereaved families and staff recovering from serious injuries, the AML press release said.
The Dolo family in their statement threatened legal action against the iron ore mining company.
“We believe that Mr. Dolo, your ‘committed’ rail technician and his dead colleague, Mr Justin Mars, a M-contractor would not have died if AML had prioritized saving their lives”, the Dolo Family said in a Press Statement, the Family cried, further threatening legal action against the company.
The Dolo Family, among others, lamented Arcelor Mittal’s poor safety measures for its rail maintenance crew, the company’s slow and inhumane response as well as the company’s deliberate abandoning of the critically injured staff by dumping them at the JFK Hospital in Monrovia after being evacuated from Nimba County.
The Family also takes the company to task for what it termed as a mockery when it referred to the two deceased staff as ‘committed’ on grounds that Arcelor Mittal’s terrible and inhumane response did not prove that the late Mr. Dolo and Mr. Mars were ‘committed staff.
Update on Accident on AML Rail Line
But in its press release, the ArcelorMittal management said: “On Wednesday January 12, 2022, a chartered flight transported the other four of our injured colleagues to Dakar, Senegal for advanced medical care, following frantic efforts to process their travel documents and COVID-19 certificates.”
AML acknowledges that these are truly difficult times for the families of our fallen colleagues and those who were injured. It is also a difficult period for the rest of the ArcelorMittal Liberia family.
AML management says it is in regular contact with and has visited the homes of our departed brothers to express our profound sympathy and that the company will do its utmost to continue to support everyone during these sad moments.
On Friday, Stefan Buys, ArcelorMittal’s Executive Vice President and CEO for Mining [Global] along with senior executives of ArcelorMittal Liberia visited the homes of the bereaved families in Yekepa and Camp Four (immediately outside Yekepa) and assured them of company’s fullest support, beyond its legal obligations to care for the wellbeing of the families.
“I want to express my personal and deepest sympathy to the family and on behalf of everyone at ArcelorMittal express our condolences to you. We are here to share your grief and provide some comfort to your pains; the organization will support you and your family and our Human Resource Department will remain in contact with you to ensure that you get all the right support” Buys said when he visited one of the families affected.
Dolo family remains puzzled
The Dolo Family however said that it remains puzzled over the manner in which a few members of the family had to assume responsibility of the hospital bill after the company chose to allow its staff to die by not even calling medical personnel’s attention to the critically injured staff at the JFK Hospital: “This was so grave that it took a few of our family members who had gone to check on Mr. Dolo taking the responsibility of calling the nurses’ attention to him and paying bills. It was after we began crying in that hospital that the nurses asked us to get four pounds of blood. Then it was then that available family members including the wife who travelled all the way from Yekepa upon hearing the news of her husband began to donate blood. By this time, over 10 hours had passed since they were abandoned, neglected and completely ignored by the AML personnel who took them at the JFK and left even though Mr. Dolo kept carrying out for help on the hospital bed”.