(BDCi) — A judge has been asked to order a halt to building work at a World Cup stadium at which England will face Italy after the death of a construction worker.
Public prosecutors told the judge conditions at the Arena Amazonia, in the city of Manaus, were “unacceptably dangerous” and many problems needed to be resolved, Sky News reported.
The public prosecutor’s office in Brazil’s northern state of Amazonia has submitted a 13-page report demanding an “urgent and immediate halt” to work after 22-year-old worker Marcleudo de Melo Ferreira fell 35 meters when a cable broke as he worked on the roofing structure. He died of his injuries in the hospital.
Andrade Gutierrez, the company overseeing construction, stopped work on Saturday as a matter of respect.
Construction union leader Cicero Custodio said workers were being “ill-treated” and would strike if conditions did not improve.
“It is disgraceful that lives are being put at risk through working night shifts at dangerous sites to make construction deadlines,” he said.
Also on Saturday, the BBC reported that a person working on a site near the Arena Amazonia had died of a heart attack.
Jose Antonio da Silva Nascimento, 49, was “overworked” according to his family. “He worked from Sunday to Sunday,” sister-in-law Priscila Soares told O Globo newspaper.
In November, two people died when a crane collapsed on part of the stadium that will host the 2014 World Cup opener.
Source: espnfc.com