December the 6th, 2023 – Following the recent rubbish slide which injured three employees and saw the infamous Jakuševec landfill temporarily closed by the mayor, it seems things are back up and running again.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Jakuševec landfill was quickly closed on Monday for waste disposal, with mayor Tomislav Tomašević and his deputy Luka Korlaet announcing that things should should go back to normal on Tuesday. The plan then was for waste disposal to occur further away from the location where the slide actually occurred.
One employee was amputated due to his injuries
As stated above, three people were injured as a result of the most recent rubbish slide at the Jakuševec landfill in Zagreb. This new slide, otherwise the second in less than a month, happened on Monday around 06:40. The individual most injured was Čistoća employee Josip Topolovec, whose lower arm tragically had to be amputated as a result of the incident. Tomislav Tomašević pointed out at the extraordinary press conference that the seriously injured worker of Čistoća is currently stable and out of immediate danger to his life. He added that he heard from a member of his family, expressed his sincere regret and offered all the help possible from the Zagreb City Administration and Zagreb city companies.
Air quality measuring to be continuously carried out
As for air quality, Tomašević pointed out that the measurements showed that the gases that cause an unpleasant smell. While causing a less than pleasant smell, they’re all below the limit values, which means that there is no direct threat to human health. However, a team from the “Dr. Andrija Štampar” Public Health Institute will measure the air quality and continuously inform the public, he said.
At the Jakuševec landfill itself, air is measured constantly, but to be sure, they requested additional measurements from the aforementioned health institution, which has a mobile device for measuring air quality. The same device was used when a fire broke out at one company complex near Osijek recently.
“Something cut off his hand, he says he doesn’t know what it was. He jumped over the fence knowing his hand was gone, and went out onto the road“
Mario Topolovec, the son of the seriously injured Čistoca worker, told 24sata that his father appears to be in a good mental state and is fully aware of everything that happened
“Dad’s in a very good state. He’s mentally alright and has accepted that he’s lost his arm. For now, everything is fine, at least that’s what the doctors said. He told me that he heard what sounded like a shot, like a bomb going off, and then there was a landslide, he didn’t have time to escape it. He’s aware of everything that’s happened,” said Mario just after he left KBC Zagreb, where his father is recovering.
“Something cut off his hand, he says he doesn’t know what it was. He jumped over the fence knowing his hand was gone, and went out onto the road,” added Mario.
Mario confirmed that he was contacted by Mayor Tomislav Tomašević on Monday.
“The mayor and everyone from the City and the company called me. Tomašević told me to assess for myself whether he can come to visit my dad and that if he can, to ask when he can come. He’s going to come as soon as possible,” added Mario, who confirmed that he will hire a lawyer and that he will file a lawsuit for everything that happened.
As for the current state of affairs, no waste was disposed of at the Jakuševec landfill on Monday, and according to unofficial information from the State Inspectorate, it was announced that further waste disposal will not be allowed in the part of the composting plant within a radius of 300 metres from the collapse site. However, in the near future, the disposal of waste will be allowed, as will the normal operation of the landfill on the part of the area where there is no threat. This did begin on Tuesday morning.
