How can soccer supporters possibly expect to feel safe in Brazil next summer when World Cup workers clearly aren’t safe?
Alas, tragedy has struck again.
A construction worker died Saturday after falling from the roof of a World Cup stadium still under construction. This accident happened in the jungle city of Manaus, where the United States will play one of its first round matches.
More details on today’s accident are here from NBC.
Obviously, construction zones can be dangerous places; supporters arriving next summer will not be climbing roofs or idling beneath mammoth equipment supporting 500-ton building material. But it goes to the bigger picture, one that asks serious questions about the safety that visitors can reasonably expect.
After all, this is hardly an isolated incident. It comes less than a month after one entire section of a stadium was collapsed under the weight of a huge crane and a 500-ton piece of roofing, killing two workers at the Sao Paulo stadium that will serve as host for the tournament’s opening match on June 12. (See the telling photos of that one here.)
And it all comes after a year of ongoing violence and chaos in the country, too much of which is linked directly or indirectly to soccer.
Recently, terrible violence at a Brazilian championship match left FIFA officials scrambling to insist the violence was not an indication of what the world will see at next year’s World Cup.
One expert told CNBC that at least 30 people have been killed inside or in the vicinity of Brazil’s professional grounds in 2013.