By Robbie Blakeley, Senior Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Two workers were killed in the space of a few hours at the Arena Amazônia building site in Manaus for the 2014 FIFA World Cup yesterday. Marcleudo de Melo Ferreira, 22, fell 35 meters inside the stadium during the afternoon and another, José Antônio do Nascimento, 49, died from a heart attack.
Mr. Ferreira was taken to First Aid but later succumbed to his injuries. The latest accident came just two weeks after two workers were killed at the Arena Corinthians in São Paulo.
A few hours later José Antônio do Nascimento, 49, suffered a heart attack at the Convention Center situated next to the Arena Amazônia. The center will be used by FIFA during the World Cup tournament.
The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) in Manaus released a statement expressing their “sincere regrets for the families, relatives, friends and colleagues” of the two men. Building work has been temporarily suspended, but it is still expected the stadium will be delivered next month.
The deaths are the second and third to occur at the Manaus site this calendar year. In March, Raimundo Nonato Lima da Costa lost his life when he fell from a support beam inside the stadium.
Tragedy has been a recurring theme at stadium building projects in Brazil in 2013. In addition to the Arenas Amazônia and Corinthians, the Arena Palestra in São Paulo, Arena Grêmio in Porto Alegre, Mineirão in Belo Horizonte and Mané Garrincha in Brasília all saw workers lose lives.
Read more (in Portuguese).
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