An eyewitness who saw young workers dismantling buildings containing potentially deadly asbestos in Southside has told The Royal Gazette that most had no protection while others covered their faces with t-shirts.

Stella Burchall, whose grandson Anthony Burchall was employed by local Progressive Labour Party MP Arthur Pitcher to carry out the work, claimed white powder and "crystals'' from the site spilled from uncovered trucks into nearby streets.

However, Mr. Pitcher broke his si lence on the controversy last night and said his workers were not directly involved in removing harmful asbestos from the buildings.

He said initial reports from experts indicated the asbestos involved was "negligible'', but admitted his team was ordered to stop demolition by an environmental health officer and specialist asbestos abatement experts took over.

Mr. Pitcher denied responsibility for alleged spillages of asbestos as trucks were removing the waste.

And on the claim his workers had no masks, he said: "They had masks there.

Whether they used them or not...'' Mrs. Burchall said she started to choke when the trucks removing the waste went past her house, 200 yards from the site, and that she still had a cough.

The revelations have prompted the United Bermuda Party to renew a call to Health Minister Nelson Bascome to hold a full independent inquiry into the demolition.

Mr. Bascome reiterated his statement to the House of Assembly on Friday that there were different levels of asbestos in the buildings and that some could be demolished while, in others, the asbestos had to be treated first.

Seventeen-year-old Mr. Burchall's mother Judy-Ann said last night: "My son was on the roof at first and said he was moving asbestos from the school.

`My son was unprotected on asbestos site' "I had heard there was a lot of asbestos there and said: `Why haven't you got a mask?' He said: `I don't know, ask uncle Arthur (Pitcher)' (as we call him).

"I said: `You've got to stop working up there, that stuff can kill you'. I couldn't believe it. Those young men had no gloves, no masks, nothing.'' Stella Burchall, of Tommy Fox Road, said: "At nights, when I sat outside, I started choking and I never got like that before until they pulled that (building) apart. I still cough now.

"When the truck went by you could feel the dust come out because some were not covered over.

"Those boys were in their teens or 20s and they had t-shirts round their noses, no masks and they were afraid to breathe.

"Arthur Pitcher had no equipment like that for those boys. I hope those boys don't get that in their throats because it could cause cancer.

"Those boys should be tested in the hospital and Mr. Pitcher should pay for those tests. What he did was wrong because he caused a danger to the people of St. David's. This needs to be stopped.

"They went banging and chewing it up and half those boys had t-shirts around their face.

"I went up there and one boy had a mask on but the others had nothing. They were pulling it off the roof and throwing it down. The trucks were coming and they were putting it in a dumper and you could see all the crystals.

"It was spilling out onto the road like diamonds and when the sun hit it, it was like different colours and powder-like.

"The boys were throwing up pieces onto the truck. I saw one boy rip a piece and the dust was flying, it was like powder.'' But Mr. Pitcher said: "They weren't working with none of the harmful stuff.

What we did was we took out windows and removed walls that were made of plywood, but we left the ceiling and the floor.'' He confirmed that the Senior Environmental Health Officer had ordered him to stop work.

"We had conflicting reports as far as asbestos was concerned and when he came with a second report, he told us to stop and we did so.'' He said the initial report from Bermuda Water Consultants (BWC) said they could go ahead with demolition because there was a "negligible'' amount -- less than two percent on the tiles -- but they came back with another report stating professional asbestos abatement was needed.

The work was then sub-contracted out to a team of asbestos experts.

When asked about the "crystals'' Mrs. Burchall said she saw on the road, Mr.

Pitcher replied, "We were taking down the walls that were insulated, it was vinyl siding over plywood.'' He refuted her claim that trucks were uncovered: "That's not true. I was taking debris like rubble, plumbing, pipes and metal.'' Mr. Bascome advised Mrs. Burchall to attend a doctor if she felt ill.

He added: "Some buildings had different percentages of asbestos. Some were allowed for demolition and some for stripping, and that's the way they went about it.

"If anyone knocks down a building, you are going to kick up dust -- that's a given. The Health Department did go there and give the recommendation that asbestos abatement had to be done on buildings and it was done.

"There was some demolition and different percentages of asbestos in different buildings. Some units had been identified to have asbestos removed and some were specified to be demolished.'' Mr. Bascome said he would be giving a Ministerial statement in the House of Assembly on Friday.

Shadow Health Minister Kim Young said Mrs. Burchall's apparent illness underlined the need for a public inquiry.

"I would hope this puts the seriousness of it to the Minister to realise that we need an independent public inquiry because there might be others who don't have symptoms until up to 20 years down the line.

"The buildings were all identical, so how can you say we can knock down one and it doesn't have enough asbestos, but another requires special treatment? It doesn't make sense.'' And she called on Mr. Bascome to produce permits, which she said Mr. Pitcher would have needed to start work on a building containing asbestos.

She added that two asbestos reports were produced on the buildings at Southside. One that said they contained two percent and were dangerous and another later one, which referred to the asbestos just in a fragment of tiles, which was around one percent.

She wondered which one Mr. Bascome would refer to in his statement to the House.

A source with detailed knowledge of asbestos treatment and the demolition at Southside said: "They were knocking two buildings and there was all kinds of asbestos -- in the roof, the ceiling and in the tiles. It was mashed asbestos and once you crumble it, it is very dangerous.

"BWC had assessed all the buildings a long time ago and marked them all as asbestos. They knew it, but Pitcher just went ahead and started demolishing.

"How can you bulldoze the building before it is taken out? There is no such thing as slight asbestos or non-dangerous asbestos. You simply cannot say that some asbestos has been arrogated to be knocked down. It all has to be properly treated.''