Qatar official says ‘400-500’ died on WC projects

Qatar’s top World Cup (WC) official said Tuesday that more than 400 migrant workers died in labour accidents in the country in the year’s leading up to the tournament. Hassan Al-Thawadi, head of Qatar’s delivery and legacy organising committee, gave the figure of 400-500 in a British television interview when asked how many workers had died “doing work for the World Cup”. The organising committee said his response referred to “national statistics covering the period of 2014-2020 for all work-related fatalities” in Qatar “covering all sectors and nationalities”. It said there were 414 worker deaths over the eight-year period.