By Andrew Warshaw
December 16 – Brazil’s preparations for next year’s World Cup have been rocked by yet another fatality at a stadium being used for the tournament after a young construction worker fell to his death, heightening safety fears six months ahead of the big kickoff. The latest death came at the Manaus Arena in the Amazonian jungle region where England will meet Italy.
The death has intensified scrutiny of construction safety measures even further as well as concerns about the readiness of venues with half the stadiums currently behind schedule.
Marcleudo de Melo Ferreira, 22, plunged 35 meters while working on the roof of the $200 million, 42,000-seat capacity arena. Brazilian media reported that he fell after a cable broke as he prepared to finish a night shift.
The accident was the second at the venue and comes two weeks after two workers died when a crane collapsed at the Sao Paulo stadium scheduled to host the June 12 opening match between Brazil and Croatia.
Local construction union leader Cicero Custodio slammed conditions at Manaus and warned his members were ready to strike if conditions did not improve. “Workers at the Amazonia Arena are being ill-treated,” said Custodio. “We are being ignored by the authorities. I have been talking about conditions at the arena and the risks of night work for some time. Ideally, there would be a general strike to show how things really are.”
Shortly after his outburst, a court in Brazil halted Manaus construction work, with the Prosecutor’s Office ordering contractors Andrade Gutierrez to present a detailed report on the site’s safety conditions.
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