Human Interest

Philippines investigates death of citizen who worked at Qatar hotel

Manila, Dec 9 (EFE).- The Philippines government has confirmed the death of one of its citizens while working at a luxury hotel in Qatar – where the Football World Cup is underway – and announced that its embassy in Doha will investigate the incident alongside Qatari authorities.

“The embassy (of the Philippines in Doha) is working with local authorities to know more details about his death,” the Filipino Department of Foreign Affairs told reporters overnight.

The Philippine authorities said that they would not provide more details of the incident for now out of respect for the family, and that they were in contact with relatives of the deceased for quick repatriation of the body.

Without specifying the date of the incident, sports website The Athletic published Wednesday that the worker’s death was caused by an accident while carrying repair equipment in a luxury hotel in Qatar, where Saudi Arabia’s national team was training.

The international governing body of football, FIFA, published in a statement on Thursday that as soon as they heard of the incident, they contacted local authorities to know more details.

The working conditions of migrant workers employed in the World Cup preparations in Qatar were severely criticized for the large number of victims recorded over the last few years.

In November 2022, Qatari authorities published that 414 workers had died in work-related accidents between 2014 and 2020.

More than 86 percent of the 2.9 million inhabitants of the Persian Gulf nation are foreigners, a large number of them immigrant workers in sectors such as construction.

Qatar World Cup 2022 CEO Nasser Al Khater was criticized by human rights groups for saying that “death is a natural part of life” when asked about the Philippine citizen’s death. EFE

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