Top Qatari World Cup official puts worker deaths ‘between 400 and 500’, higher than all of Doha’s past estimates

The comment by Hassan al-Thawadi, secretary general of Qatar’s Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, appeared off the cuff in an interview with British journalist Piers Morgan

Since Fifa awarded the tournament to Qatar in 2010, the country has taken some steps to overhaul its employment practices such as setting a minimum wage

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Labourers remove scaffolding at the Al Bayt stadium in Al Khor, Qatar. Migrant labourers who built Qatar’s World Cup stadiums often worked long hours under harsh conditions and were subjected to discrimination, wage theft and other abuses as their employers evaded accountability. Photo: AP

Published: 9:11pm, 29 Nov 2022

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 US$200 billion worth of stadiums, metro lines and new infrastructure needed for the tournament.

The Supreme Committee and Qatar’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

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. That’s something that’s been discussed.”

But that figure has not been discussed publicly by Qatari officials previously. Reports from the Supreme Committee dating from 2014 through the end of 2021 only include the number of deaths of workers involved in building and refurbishing the stadiums now hosting the World Cup.

Those released figures put the total number of deaths at 40. They include 37 from what the Qataris describe as non-work incidents such as heart attacks and three from workplace incidents. One report also separately lists a worker death from the coronavirus amid the pandemic.