Nasser Al Khater, chief executive of the 2022 World Cup, confirmed to Reuters that a worker had died, but gave no further details. He offered his condolences to the family and said “death is a natural part of life”.
The Philippine Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a statement that one of its citizens died while working in a resort south of the capital Doha. He said his embassy was “working with legal authorities to ascertain further details of his death”.
Online sports publication The Athletic reported on Wednesday that the man worked for a company hired to fix lights in a car park at the Sealine Resort, the Saudi national team’s training ground. He said he died after slipping off a ramp while walking alongside a forklift and hitting his head on concrete.
Citing several unidentified sources, he said the accident took place during the World Cup, but did not specify when.
The Philippines statement said it would not provide further details out of respect for the man’s family. The resort did not respond to a Reuters query.
“If the investigation concludes that safety protocols were not followed, the company will be subject to legal action and severe financial penalties,” said a Qatari government official, who asked not to be identified.
“The work-related accident rate has consistently declined in Qatar since strict health and safety standards were introduced and enforcement was stepped up,” he said.
Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers has come under enormous scrutiny in the run-up to the tournament, with rights groups accusing the Gulf state of systematic labor abuses — charges rejected by the government.
Disputed death tolls
Since winning the right to host the World Cup in 2010, Qatar has come under fire for its treatment of migrant workers, who make up the majority of its population.
The tournament, the first to be held in the Middle East, where other countries have also faced criticism over migrant workers’ rights, is mired in controversy with some football stars and European officials criticizing Qatar’s human rights record, including labor rights, LGBT+ and women.
Qatar’s World Cup organizers, the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, said in a statement that it was not involved in the Qatar investigation because “the deceased (was) working as a contractor, not under the purview of SC”.
The number of work-related deaths in Qatar is controversial.
Britain’s Guardian newspaper reported last year that at least 6,500 migrant workers – many of them working on World Cup projects – have died in Qatar since 2010, based on its calculations from official records.
In response, Qatar said the death toll was proportionate to the size of the migrant workforce and included many non-manual workers, adding that every life lost was a tragedy. SC said three work-related deaths and 37 non-work-related deaths occurred on World Cup-related projects.
“Death is a natural part of life, whether at work or while sleeping,” said Khater, expressing disappointment at journalists’ questions about The Athletic’s report.
“We are in the middle of a World Cup. And we have a successful World Cup. And is that something you want to talk about now?” he said.
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