Workers dies at stadium construction in Saudi Arabia

Before the world tournament 2034

Workers dies when building a Saudi World Cup stadium

When building a World Cup stadium, a worker from Pakistan died. Apparently he was not secured accordingly.

A Pakistani worker died in the construction of a stadium for the 2034 World Cup in Saudi Arabia. As the British newspaper “Guardian” reports, it is Muhammad Arshad, who worked as a foreman on the construction site of the Aramco stadium in Al Khobar.

The incident occurred on March 12, when Arshad fell from a higher level of the stadium under construction. According to sources with knowledge of the incident, this was the first known death of a migrant work in the context of the construction projects for the World Cup 2034.

Arshad’s death was confirmed by the Belgian construction group Besix Group, whose subsidiary Six Construct is one of the main customers of the stadium building. The company explained that Arshad was part of a team that carried out work on formwork on a platform.

Although all three workers were equipped with personal fall protection systems, Arshad was not attached to a safety point at the time of the accident. The platform tilted and Arshad fell into the depth. Despite immediate medical help, he succumbed to his serious injuries in the hospital.

How long Arshad had already worked on the stadium project is not known. However, contributions to social media show that he should have been working there since September 2023.

According to one eyewitness, the workers were called for a meeting and instructed to delete any video recordings of the incident after the accident and not to talk to outsiders about it. Besix said that the employees were asked to share not pictures of the tragic events on social networks out of respect for the victim’s family.

The company also emphasized that the security of the workers is a top priority and that the authorities were supported in the complete examination of the incident.

Arshad’s body was transferred to Pakistan on Tuesday and was buried there near his place of residence. His father Muhammad Bashir told the “Guardian” that the family had “crashed from heaven onto the earth” and was in a state of shock.

The 47,000 viewer Aramco-Stadion is already in an advanced building stage. Thousands of migrant workers, especially from Bangladesh and Pakistan, work there in two layers. The stadium is developed by Aramco, the state oil company Saudi Arabia, which recently became one of the most important sponsors of FIFA.