Relatives named one of the victims as Anton Runsvik, 26, from Sundsvall.
“Anton had the biggest heart both on and off the rink. He was a humble, kind and calm guy, wise and mature for his age,” Aftonbladet quotes his local floorball club as writing.
The names of the other four have not been publicly revealed and they are still being formally identified, but Aftonbladet reports that there’s much that indicates that one of them was a young man from Afghanistan, who arrived as a child refugee a decade ago.
“He’s been working in the building industry and is now missing. Police have retrieved DNA samples from his apartment, among other things from his toothbrush,” an unnamed source told the tabloid.
A Russian national in his 50s, who first came to Sweden in 2011 and received a Swedish residence permit in 2017, is also believed to have died.
“He loved his work and liked Sweden a lot,” a friend of his told Aftonbladet.
The other two men came from Ukraine, according to the syndicalist trade union SAC.
“We have more than 300 Russian-speaking construction workers among our members. Immigrants are not valued as Swedes when it comes to salary, security or safety. If a Swedish builder earns 200 kronor an hour, an immigrant earns 95 kronor,” Pamela Otarola of SAC Stockholm told Aftonbladet.
“Ukrainian builders have been exploited for many years in Sweden. They arrived even before the war and sometimes work without food and pay.”
The construction elevator collapsed at a site for a 14-storey apartment building on Monday morning. Investigations are under way to determine what caused the accident and whether anyone should be held responsible. Some 50 builders were working at the site.
The victims were working for a subcontractor to the main construction company Andersson Company.
A total of 52 people have died in workplace-related accidents in Sweden in 2023, the highest number in a decade.
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