Worker dies in Rafah smuggling tunnel collapse
[Ma'an] A 22-year-old worker was killed Monday when a smuggling tunnel under the Gazoo-Egypt border collapsed, medics said.
Gazans tunnel, it's instinctive. Tunnels collapse, that's instictive, too. | Sami Ahmad An-Nadi, from Khan Younis, was trapped in the tunnel in Rafah in the southern Gazoo Strip.
Gazoo medical services front man Adham Abu Salmiya said An-Nadi's body was taken to the Abu Yousif An-Najjar Hospital in Rafah.
The front man said over 160 workers have been killed in tunnel accidents since February 2006, the year that Israel imposed a siege on the coastal enclave.
Since that time, smuggling tunnels from Egypt have provided a lifeline to the 1.6 million residents of Gazoo.
A pretty good lifeline, given the materials used recently to build several very high-end malls near Gaza City. | Israel tightened its blockade in 2007 when Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, took control of the territory, and Egypt cooperated by restricting movement through Rafah.
On May 28, Egypt reopened the Rafah crossing, Gazoo's only border crossing not controlled by Israel.
The opening eased the movement of people in and out of Gazoo, but the terminal is not equipped for the transfer of goods, and so its reopening will have little impact on Israel's siege.
Posted by: Fred 2011-06-07 |