DOHA — Qatari authorities are investigating the death of a migrant worker, allegedly while carrying out repairs at a resort that served as a training base for the Saudi national team during the World Cup.
Nasser Al Khater, head of the World Cup organizing committee in Qatar, expressed his condolences to the worker’s family.
“For now, what happened and how it happened is still being investigated. And obviously it’s something that makes us very sad,” Al Khater said.
The worker was a Filipino man who was repairing lights at the Sealine Beach resort, The Athletic website reported. He added that the employee slipped, fell off a ramp as he was walking alongside a forklift and landed headfirst on the concrete.
The complex housed the concentration of the Saudi team, which was eliminated in the group stage.
Qatar has come under fire for the working conditions of migrants who have done many colossal construction jobs for the World Cup. The country spent $200 billion on stadiums, subway lines and other infrastructure.
Last week, an organization official in Qatar, Hassan al-Thawadi, estimated the number of workers killed during construction work for the tournament to be “between 400 and 500.” This is a far higher figure than any previously disclosed by Doha.
The Supreme Committee for World Cup Legacy and Compliance, of which Al-Thawadi is the secretary-general, later said it was referring to figures for work-related deaths nationwide from 2014-20, not specifically related deaths. with the World Cup.
Earlier, Qatari officials had reported that there were three deaths related to construction work on the World Cup stadiums. Another 37 construction workers reportedly died for reasons unrelated to their work.
Human rights groups have considered these statistics incomplete, pointing out that Qatar does not count deaths outside of the workplace but caused by working conditions such as extreme summer heat.
Al Khater, director general of Qatar 2022, said construction worker deaths in the country were commensurate with those in other countries.
“We found that Qatar is like any other country in the world with deaths in the construction industry,” he said. “Unfortunately, people have not put this in a proper context.”