A top Qatari official involved in the country’s World Cup organisation has put the number of worker deaths for the tournament “between 400 and 500” for the first time, a drastically higher number than any other previously offered by Doha.
The comment by Hassan al-Thawadi, the secretary-general of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, appeared to come off the cuff during an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan.
It also threatened to reinvigorate criticism by human rights groups over the toll of hosting the Middle East’s first World Cup for the migrant labour that built over $200 billion worth of stadiums, metro lines and new infrastructure needed for the tournament.
In the interview, portions of which Morgan posted online, the British journalist asks 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,” al-Thawadi responds. “I don’t have the exact number.”
Previously, official Qatari reports from 2014 to 2021 had put the total number of deaths of workers involved in building and refurbishing the stadiums at 40. However, in a later statement, the Supreme Committee said al-Thawadi was referring to “national statistics covering the period of 2014- 2020 for all work-related fatalities (414) in Qatar, covering all sectors and nationalities.”
