RIO DE JANEIRO, March 30 ― Brazil’s World Cup preparations suffered another blow today after a construction worker died in an accident at the Sao Paulo stadium that will host the soccer tournament opener in 75 days.

The worker, Fabio Hamilton da Cruz, died at a hospital after falling 8 metres while installing temporary seating at the Corinthians Arena, world governing body FIFA said.

Cruz’s death is the third at the US$355 million (RM1, 095 million) venue, which has become a major concern for event organisers, and the seventh in accidents at World Cup stadiums in Brazil. His age and hometown weren’t disclosed.

Workers are rushing to finish projects at several of the 12 sites that will host games during the month-long tournament. Almost every stadium has missed deadlines and three venues remain unfinished. Preparations for the event have embarrassed South America’s biggest country with spiralling construction costs, urban mobility programs scrapped or delayed amid public anger at the US$11 billion Brazil is spending to put on the soccer showpiece.

“Deeply saddened by the tragic loss of a worker at Arena Sao Paulo today,” Jerome Valcke, FIFA general secretary, said in a post on social messaging site Twitter. “My thoughts and condolences are with his family and colleagues.”

Brazil meetings

Valcke, the top FIFA official responsible for the World Cup, was in Brazil this week to hold meetings with government officials and local organisers to ensure the country is ready to host the event. Brazil’s problems will lead to a reassessment of how the tournament is organised in the future, he told reporters two days ago.

“It’s a lesson and definitely we will act differently and we will have to find a different way of working in Russia in 2018,” Valcke told a news conference in Rio de Janeiro.

Fast Engenharia, the contractor that hired the firm employing Cruz, confirmed the death in an e-mailed statement, having said in an earlier release the accident took place around 10:30 am local time. Odebrecht SA, Brazil’s biggest construction company and the firm building the stadium, didn’t reply to an e-mail from Bloomberg News seeking comment.

As the work to get stadiums ready has accelerated so have the number of deaths, with five workers dying in accidents nationwide since a crane collapse killed two men in Sao Paulo in November. ― Bloomberg View