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.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS