Work suspended at Brazil World Cup stadium

Prosecutor inspects Manaus site where construction worker fell from stadium roof to his death on Saturday.

Work on the roof has been suspended after a man fell 35m to his death on Saturday [AFP]

Work on the World Cup stadium in Manaus has remained paralysed in the jungle city of Manaus after the death of a worker who fell off the stadium’s roof.

A Brazilian labour courtordered a partial stop to construction of the Arena Amazonia on Sunday, after public prosecutors asked for work “in all areas involving altitude” to be stopped, pending investigations to guarantee workers’ safety.

The worker, 22-year-old Marcleudo de Melo Ferreira, died in a Manaus hospital on Saturday, as construction crews across Brazil struggle to get stadia ready for their end-of-year deadlines.

“Work remains halted,” a spokesman told AFP news agency on Monday.

“The public prosecutor is currently inspecting the site and we shall decide thereafter whether or not work should be resumed.”

The co-ordinator for UGP Copa, the umbrella co-ordination organisation for all World Cup projects in Manaus, said in a written statement that it was ere notified of the labour court’s order for a partial stoppage of work about noon on Sunday.

“The decision should be applied to activities in high areas, notably the services of mounting the roof and facade of the Arena Amazonia.”

Andrade Gutierrez, the Brazilian firm building the stadium, confirmed on Monday that work had not resumed but would not comment further.

Fatalities

The UGP statement said the company had immediately complied with the decision and was taking the appropriate measures to ensure the full resumption of work, the statement said.

Ferreira was the fifth construction worker to die in stadia being built to host the World Cup, and the third in less than a month.

Later on Saturday, a construction worker in a nearby convention centre that will host meetings during the World Cup, Jose Antonio da Silva Nascimento, was found dead. His family members blamed an intense work schedule for triggering a heart attack.

Fatal accidents had previously occurred in Manaus, Brasilia and most recently in Sao Paulo, where two people died on November 27 after a crane collapsed in the arena that is to host the opening game on June 12.

Manaus is scheduled to host four World Cup games in June, including high-profile encounters involving teams from England, Italy, the United States and Portugal. The stadium is supposed to be ready by January 15.

Preparations for the competition – the first to be held in South America since 1978 – have been plagued by delays, accidents, cost overruns, and public anger over government waste that contributed to massive nationwide street protests last year.

Source: Al Jazeera, News Agencies