Who are we? 

We are the friends and families of Ousmane Kaba Diaby, Saibo Sumbundu Sillah, Bangally Tunkara Dukuray, Almamo Kinteh Jammeh and Mahamadou Jagana Jagana.

On 7 July 2016 our loved ones went to work at Hawkeswood Metal, a recycling plant in Birmingham but did not come home after being crushed by a collapsing wall. 

We need to find out the real reasons our family members died. We can't get adequate legal representation without your help. Please contribute what you can but most importantly please share the case page with your friends, family and collegues and on social media. 

Background 

Our family members were supplied as ‘agency’ workers, employed on the minimum wage. Hours before we had celebrated Eid together. They were hard-working people; they went there to do an honest day’s work so they could feed their families.

At just before 9 am, they were going about their work when a 15ft wall made of 1.5 tonne concrete blocks and scrap metal fell on them. 

We begged the emergency services to 'Please God, take them out' of the rubble. They were each pronounced dead on the scene; a sixth man also suffered serious injuries.

Their deaths have taken a devastating toll on each of us but also the wider community in Birmingham. We are of Gambian and Senegalese origin and our community in Birmingham is close-knit: we have all been affected by their loss.

Our loved ones’ deaths provoked comment by the former Prime Minister, the RT Hon Mr David Cameron. In 2016 he said in a statement that he was shocked to hear about the incident and that “my thoughts are with the families of those involved.” 

“Everybody is sad,” said Ansumana Barrow, president of the Gambian Association in Birmingham. John Spellar, MP for Warley, said: "There is a huge community there and clearly their loss will be felt deeply in the community."

The case was covered extensively in the media. You can get more information from the articles on the BBC, Daily Mail and The Guardian.

Our case

We are troubled by the thought that this was no accident. There is evidence which suggests that Hawkeswood Metal and its owners did not build or maintain the wall properly and did not have properly trained people to inspect its stability. 

In May 2010 Hawkeswood Metal was found to have made seven separate health and safety breaches. In 2012 Hawkeswood Metal pleaded guilty to breach of health and safety law and were fined £50,000 in relation to a worker whose arm got trapped in machinery. And in February 2016, there was a large fire at the recycling plant. More than 100 tonnes of shredded scrap metal went up in flames.

This isn't just about our loved ones

The waste/recycling industry is in desperate need of reform. The industry reports around 4,000 ‘accidents’ each year and the fatal injury accident rate for the industry in 2001/02 is estimated to be around 10 per 100,000 workers. Shockingly, that is ten times the national rate (0.9 per 100,000 workers).

This industry demands reform - we are fighting to other families don't have to go through what we have gone through. 

Why we need your help

We need your help to have representation at the upcoming 3-week inquest in Birmingham. Initially, we need to raise £2,500 and then we need to go on to raise £25,000 to cover the full costs of legal representation. 

That legal process will seek to determine why and how this incident happened. We want to ask questions of the owners of the company and those that were supposed to be in charge. We want to get to the bottom of what really happened and why.

Please share this page with your friends, neighbours and colleagues. We are desperate to get to the bottom of what caused the deaths of our loved ones. Please help us.