Qatar Investigating Laborer's Death At World Cup Stadium Site

The organizers of Qatar's 2022 World Cup said on Sunday that they "were investigating the death of an Indian labourer at one of its sites but denied it was caused by working conditions which the wealthy Gulf country is under pressure to improve," according to Tom Finn of REUTERS. Last week, FIFA "urged Qatar to hasten improvements for builders on World Cup sites." A witness said that laborer Jaleshwar Prasad, 48, "fell unconscious on Wednesday while performing steel work at Al Bayt stadium in Al Khor," 50km north of Doha. Organizers said that the death "was not caused by working conditions." The Qatar Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy of the 2022 World Cup said, "Al Khor Hospital reported the cause of death as cardiac arrest." Prasad is "the third Indian employed on a World Cup site to die of a heart attack in the last six months," according to a February report by the Supreme Committee (REUTERS, 5/1).