FIFA World Cup 2022: Qatar admits this many migrant workers died on WC projects

A Qatari official responsible for the delivery of the FIFA World Cup has revealed that 400 to 500 migrant workers may have died on World Cup-related projects.

In an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan, Hassan al-Thawadi, the World Cup chief andsecretary general of the Supreme Committee for delivery and legacy made the rather 'grim' admission. However, he stopped short of providing precise fatality numbers as it was still being discussed.

“The estimate is around 400, between 400 and 500. I don’t have the exact number, that’s something that’s been discussed. One death is too many, it’s as simple as that,” saidal-Thawadi.

"[But] every year the health and safety standards on the sites are improving, at least on our sites, the World Cup sites, the ones we are responsible for. Most definitely to the extent that you have trade unions [commending] the work that has been done on World Cup sites and the improvement.”

Notably, theSupreme Committee previously maintained that there had been only three work-related death and 37 non-work-related fatalities among the workers since the infrastructure construction began in 2014.

However, a Guardian report published last year stated that 6,500 migrant workers from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had died during the preparation of the WC infrastructure.

The Qatar World Cup has not beendevoid of controversy ever since FIFA handed the West Asian country hosting duties, nearly a decade back.

According to experts, the oil-rich country is using the WC to sportswash itself. However, to do so, it has spent almost $220 billion trying to build the stadiums and related infrastructure from the ground up.

Several footballing nations have condemned the hosting of the quadrennial event in Qatar. However, FIFA has managed to nip the protests in the bud.

(With inputs from agencies)

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