Qatar rejects ‘groundless’ worker deaths claim

DOHA: Qatar dismissed as “groundless” Monday a claim that as many as 7,000 people would die working on projects for the 2022 World Cup, bullishly defending its preparations for football’s biggest tournament.
Doha said that the allegation — made by the International Trade Union Confederation last week — was a “falsehood” and represented “a deliberate distortion of the facts.”
It said no workers had died on World Cup projects so far, and added there was no reason to believe thousands would lose their lives in the run-up to the event.
“The International Trade Union Confederation’s claim... that ‘by the time the 2022 World Cup kicks off in seven years time, based on new data, more than 7,000 workers could have died in Qatar’ is groundless and represents a deliberate distortion of the facts,” the government said.
“To date, after more than 14 million hours worked there have been no fatalities on World Cup project sites — not one.”
The Gulf state said in a statement that it was nonsensical to claim that the deaths of all workers were due to workplace accidents or conditions.