Two dead in World Cup crane collapse

Safety & Health Practitioner

Two people have died after a crane collapsed onto the Sao Paulo stadium, which is due to host the opening game of the Brazil World Cup 2014.

 

Brazilian police confirmed that two people had been killed in the accident at Arena Corinthians yesterday (27 November) after earlier reports quoted fire officials as saying that three people had died.

 

Odebrecht Infraestrutura, the company building the stadium, reported that Fábio Luiz Pereira, 42, a Munck operator/driver from the company BHM, and Ronaldo Oliveira dos Santos, 44, an assembler from the company Conecta, were killed shortly before 1pm when the crane lifting the last module of the stadium’s metallic roofing structure toppled. 

 

The crane operator was taken to hospital, but was later released.

 

In a short statement, Corinthians, the club that will move into the new stadium, said it “deeply regrets the accident”.

 

FIFA and the LOC said in a statement that the safety of workers is their top priority, and the Department of Labour and the local authorities will fully investigate the reasons behind the accident. 

 

The arena was due to be completed at the end of December to meet a Fifa deadline. Odebrecht recently said the arena was about 94 per cent ready.

 

Six of Brazil’s stadiums are not yet ready for the World Cup next summer.

 

This is the third fatal accident in World Cup stadiums in Brazil, with two other construction workers killed over the past two years.