A coalition of labor rights groups yesterday protested outside the Taipei City Hall, demanding the city investigate the death of a Nigerian man found dead at a Hwang Chang General Contractor Co construction site last month.
Nwagbo John Ugochukwu, 55, was found dead at a construction site for the new Huannan Market (環南市場) in Wanhua District (萬華) on the morning of July 30, Taiwan International Workers’ Association (TIWA) chairwoman Susan Chen (陳素香) said.
While the company denied having hired Ugochukwu, who had entered Taiwan in June on a one-month tourist visa, Chen said the association was told by a worker that the Nigerian had been working at the construction site.
The worker, who preferred to remain anonymous, added that the company might have tampered with evidence to evade responsibility, she said.
“Based on what we were told, Ugochukwu fell from the first basement level to the second basement level, but the company told police and labor inspection officials that he had fallen from the second floor to the first and that it happened in a stairwell.”
The association also alleged that the company might have deleted the security footage of the incident.
“As far as we know, immediately following the incident, Hwang Chang called the security company and did something with the footage. Later, police told me there was no footage of the incident,” she said.
Moreover, they suspected there might be more people working illegally for the company.
“The government has not approved any program allowing the company to hire migrant workers, but many migrant workers have been seen working at the construction site. It is unclear whether they were company employees transferred from other construction sites or if they were illegal immigrants,” Chen said.
The Taipei Department of Labor should not only investigate the case, but ensure that the basic human rights of migrant workers and illegal immigrants are protected, she said.
“We want the truth about his death, so that he may rest in peace. He might have been an illegal immigrant, but he was also a human being. His body is now being handled like that of an unidentified person — left at the Taipei City Mortuary Services Office’s Second Funeral Parlor,” she said.
Hwang Chang issued a statement saying that Ugochukwu had entered the construction site by mistake and injured himself after slipping.
He died after being sent to a hospital, it said.
Ugochukwu was not an employee of Hwang Chang nor its partner firms, it said, adding that it will never illegally hire foreign workers.
The company will take full responsibility for the incident, it said, adding that it has contacted the Taipei Trade Office of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and other agencies, and will work on improving safety at its construction sites.
Asked if the company had tampered with evidence, a company representative said it has been working with police on the case and cannot comment while the investigation is ongoing.
After police have identified the cause of death, the Department of Labor will investigate whether Ugochukwu had been illegally employed and if there were issues of workplace safety involved, department Secretary Chang Chien-kuo (常建國) said.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
Snow fell on Yushan (Jade Mountain, 玉山) yesterday morning as a continental cold air mass sent temperatures below freezing on Taiwan’s tallest peak, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Snowflakes were seen on Yushan’s north peak from 6:28am to 6:38am, but they did not fully cover the ground and no accumulation was recorded, the CWA said. As of 7:42am, the lowest temperature recorded across Taiwan was minus-5.5°C at Yushan’s Fengkou observatory and minus-4.7°C at the Yushan observatory, CWA data showed. On Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County, a low of 1.3°C was recorded at 6:39pm, when ice pellets fell at Songsyue Lodge (松雪樓), a
RSS