Qatar World Cup official: at least 500 migrant workers died in projects linked to tournament
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Hashim Sheikh
- . December 1, 2022
- . Update: December 1, 2022 5:03 pm
Qatar World Cup chief Hassan Al Thawadi has said that around 400 to 500 migrant workers have died due to the extreme laborious work that was done on projects related to the high profile tournament. The number provides a far larger figure that was cited earlier by Qatari officials. The revelations was made during an interview with Piers Morgan that was aired on TalkTV after the official was asked about the number of migrant workers fatalities.
Al Thawadi said “three had died in incidents directly connected with construction of the stadiums, and 37 deaths were attributed to other reasons”. After being further pressed by Morgan, Al Thawadi said, “The estimate is around 400, between 400 and 500.”
A spokesperson for Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy (SC) on Tuesday confirmed, “Separate quotes regarding figures refer to national statistics covering the period of 2014-2020 for all work-related fatalities (414) nationwide in Qatar, covering all sectors and nationalities.”
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“I don’t have the exact number, that’s something that’s been discussed. One death is too many, it’s as simple as that.” Al Thawadi added, “I think every year the health and safety standards on the sites are improving, at least on our sites, the World Cup sites, the ones that we’re responsible for, most definitely.”
The interview was aired on Monday triggering further condemnation by the human rights groups and activists over the plight of scores of migrant workers in Qatar, the justice for whom is still pending. Last year, The Guardian had revealed in an investigation that 6,500 South Asian migrant workers died in Qatar since the Gulf country had bagged the hosting rights for the FIFA World Cup in 2010.
The majority of these workers were employed in low wage, and engaged in dangerous labor in extreme heat. Global human rights watchdog, Amnesty International has said that about 90 per cent of workforce in Qatar comprises of the migrant workers, making it possible that rights violations and labor abuse is not limited to the projects related to world cup.
