Dubai Expo 2020: 5 Workers Died, Several Injured On-Site For Building Months-Long Extravaganza

Dubai’s Expo 2020 acknowledged that five workers had been killed on-site during construction of the massive world’s fair, revealing for the first time overall statistics for worker fatalities.

Dubai Expo 2020 opening ceremony (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: After eight years of planning and billions of dollars in spending, the Middle East's first world's fair Expo 2022 opened Friday in Dubai, with hopes that the months-long extravaganza will draw both visitors and global attention to this desert-turned-dreamscape.

The six-month-long exhibition, which was pushed back owing to the coronavirus pandemic, saw artists perform during the opening ceremony.  While the opening ceremony was a star-studded affair, reports have emerged that workers who built the expo had to face difficult work conditions which lead to a death of 5 people.

Dubai’s Expo 2020 on Saturday acknowledged that five workers had been killed on-site during construction of the massive world’s fair, revealing for the first time overall statistics for worker fatalities.

More than 200,000 workers constructed the huge site on the outskirts of Dubai, which features hundreds of pavilions and other facilities on a showground twice the size of Monaco.

The workers had to be involved for some 240 million hours in its construction. It had not offered any overall statistics previously on worker fatalities, injuries or coronavirus infections according to the Associated Press.

The admission comes after the European Parliament last month urged nations not to take part in Expo, citing the United Arab Emirates' “inhumane practices against foreign workers” that it said worsened during the pandemic. Ahead of Expo, businesses and construction companies are “coercing workers into signing untranslated documents, confiscating their passports, exposing them to extreme working hours in unsafe weather conditions and providing them with unsanitary housing,” the resolution said.

It said 247 million work hours had been completed at the site, adding that the frequency of accidents was lower than Britain's.

"We have established world-class policies, standards and processes that protect and support the health, safety, and wellbeing of everyone involved in Expo 2020 Dubai," an Expo statement said.

(With agency inputs)