A 33-year-old worker is recovering after falling about 30 feet into an uncovered well at a Casuarina Estates job site in St Philip, in an incident that has again raised alarm about the island’s many unsecured wells.
The supervisor at the site told Barbados TODAY the accident happened during routine work involving heavy equipment.
“He was operating this bobcat,” the supervisor explained, noting that work had been ongoing before things suddenly went quiet.
After stepping away briefly, the supervisor said something felt wrong.
“So when I walk in here, I hear this voice down inside the well,” he recalled.
Emergency services were immediately contacted.“So then I called the police, the ambulance. Everyone was up here. That’s all I can tell you.”
The incident comes amid growing public concern about open and unattended wells, particularly in rural and residential communities.
Barbados Labour Party candidate for St Philip North, Dr Sonia Browne, said she was present when the injured man was rescued.
“I was actually on the spot when he was taken out of the well and the ambulance saw to him. I was there at the time,” she said.
When asked whether unsecured government wells would become a campaign issue, Browne said it would form part of her representation rather than a central campaign plank.
She stressed that the problem was not new, particularly in St Philip North.
“The truth is I have been seeing to wells for the last maybe five years. We have a lot in St Philip North, whether it be drainage wells or the deeper wells that are uncovered or the covers are faulty and have basically broken.”
Dr Browne added that while assistance has been forthcoming, the issue remains persistent.
“The Ministry of Transport, Works and Water Resources really and truly have been coming forward when I can get them coming forward to help me replace a lot of the wells,” she said, adding: “So it’s not new as in from yesterday.”
She also pointed to previous incidents.
“In fact, we had another well in Long Bay that somebody fell into,” Browne said, noting that similar incidents have occurred around St Philip as well.
The most recent of those incidents occurred on January 7, when a 72-year-old woman fell into a deep well in Goodland Gardens. That incident, along with others in recent years, has reignited debate over monitoring, mapping and maintaining abandoned and drainage wells across the island.
Beyond safety concerns, Dr Browne also reflected on the political climate in the constituency, saying the response from residents has been steady and largely positive.
“The campaigning is good. The responses have been good. It’s steady,” she said, noting the size of the constituency requires sustained effort.
She listed recent canvassing efforts in Bayfield, Apple Hall, Bottom Bay and River, adding that more visits were planned in the coming days as requests continue to come in.
The Casuarina Estates incident is the latest in a troubling pattern of people falling into wells, some with fatal consequences. With emergency crews once again responding to a preventable danger, residents and officials alike are under renewed pressure to ensure that known hazards are identified, secured and addressed before another life is put at risk.
The other candidates for St Philip North in the February 11 election are Simon Clarke of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) and Anya Lorde, representing the Friends of Democracy..
This constituency has been served by the BLP’s Rudolph Cappy Greenidge and Michael Lashley, who, for three general elections, represented the DLP. Lashley is now the BLP candidate for The City of Bridgetown.
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