By BARBARA WALKIN

FN Night Editor

barbara@nasguard.com

As police continue their investigations into Monday's horrific industrial accident at the old Bahama Cement site, family members and friends remain heartbroken over the sudden passing of their loved one.

Frederick "T-Boy" Exalus, 37, was killed instantly when a steal structure he was working on collapsed. A steel cutter, 'T-Boy,' and three others were at the site retrieving scrap metal at the time of the incident.

According to Acting Police Press Liaison Assistant Superintendent Hector Delva, police received the call shortly after 9:00 a.m. and went to the scene at an abandoned building located on the premises.

Four residents of Eight Mile Rock were in the area trying to extract scrap metal when the metal structure fell on one of the men, said ASP Delva.

"He was hurt badly. The doctor was called from the Eight Mile Rock Clinic and pronounced him dead on the scene." he said.

The abandoned Bahama Cement site is a "proverbial gold mine" for scrap metal collectors and with no proper signage to warn persons from the property, those in the business take advantage of the old machinery on site.

A visibly grieving and sombre co-worker of "T-Boy," who was working on the structure when it collapsed, told The Freeport News that there was no warning.

He and "T-Boy" were at one area on the site and two other men were in another area.

The structure was standing upright when they began the cutting exercise.

When the first piece was cut it was fine, but when "T-Boy" cut the second piece it was weak and a portion of steel reportedly fell on him just before the structure collapsed.

The co-worker who was with "T-Boy" said when he realized what was going on he dove to the ground and when it was over he lifted up his head and saw smoke, but his friend was not so fortunate.

He still doesn't know how he made it out alive.

The other two men said they called out for "T-Boy" and ran around to help, but there was no answer.

They called his phone to locate him. He was laying on the ground, motionless and they had to cut away the steel to free him.

According to ASP Delva, the men were not employed with any company and are believed to be freelancers. However, he was unable to say whether it was the first time the men had worked at that site.

It is still unclear whether the men were working for an independent company to extract metal from the premises.