Oct. 10, 2001 – A St. Thomas road worker was killed Tuesday afternoon after a portion of the roadway he was excavating collapsed.
Shortly before 3 p.m., 47-year-old Milton Skeete, who had been working on the excavation in the Bovoni area near the Clinton E. Phipps Race Track, was buried in several feet of dirt, rocks and rubble when the side of the road collapsed.
Rescue officers and emergency medical personnel spent hours trying to rescue Skeete but eventually resorted to using a backhoe to free his body from the rubble.
Medical Examiner Francisco Landron identified Skeete as the victim on Wednesday.
Officials of the Public Works Department and of Island Roads, the company under contract with Public Works to perform the road work, declined to comment on the matter.
An investigation reportedly is under way to determined how the accident occurred.