A top Qatari official has said the number of workers who died while building World Cup stadiums for the on-going tournament is ‘between 400 and 500’.
Daily Mail reported that the figure is by far the country’s highest admission of fatalities.
The recent comment by Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary-general of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, came off-the-cuff during an interview with a British journalist Piers Morgan.
Morgan asked Mr al-Thawadi: ‘What is the honest, realistic total do you think of migrant workers who died from... as a result of work they’re doing for the World Cup in totality?’
“The estimate is around 400, between 400 and 500... I don’t have the exact number.
“That’s something that’s been discussed.’ The figure is a drastically higher number than any other previously offered by Doha”;, Mr al-Thawadi replied.
In a later statement issued regarding the controversial figures, the Supreme Committee said Mr al-Thawadi was referring to, “national statistics covering the period of 2014-20 for all work-related fatalities (414) nationwide in Qatar, covering all sectors and nationalities”;.
The Guardian in 2021, reported that 6,500 migrant workers had died since the country was awarded the rights to host the World Cup in 2010 by FIFA.
