Workers Trapped under Collapsed Hotel 'Had No Contracts, Insurance'

Rescue teams are still hoping to find survivors, but warn "no signs of life" have been found so far. Photo by BGNES

Severe violations were committed by the firm tasked with demolishing a hotel that unexpectedly collapsed near the Bulgarian city of Varna, a official with the labor inspectorate has announced.

Wednesday's incident claimed one life and left at least three workers trapped beneath the rubble, with rescue teams saying there are "no signs of life" under the debris of the eleven-story building. Some media outlets suggest there might be a fourth man smashed between the hotel's panels.

The Veronika Hotel was to be demolished by a company contracted by Planex, the company that was to build a new hotel in the Slanchev den complex with is part of the St St Constantine and Helena, 10 km north of Varna.

Ivan Ivanov told private national bTV that workers in charge of dismantling the building had signed no proper contracts and most likely had not been insured by their company.

The father of one of the workers who are trapped by the debris said his son was himself a father of three and had worked for a few weeks on the site.

In the man's words, the worker received a daily salary of BGN 30 (EUR 15), with "some BGN 5-6" for extra working hours.

Pretrial proceedings were launched Thursday morning by the district prosecutor's office.

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