World Cup 2014 Opening, Schedule & Teams: Worker Dies on Stadium; Work on Arena Suspended

With fewer than three months to prepare the Corinthians Arena for World Cup 2014, work was halted after a worker died on the job. The Corinthian's Arena in Sao Paulo is set to feature the opening match in June, according to a report by Bloomberg. 

While setting up the temporary bleachers on March 31, 2014, 23-year-old Fabio Hamilton da Cruz fell approximately 15 meters to his death. According to Goal.com, he was immediately brought to the hospital but subsequently died due to severe injuries. Da Cruz worked for Fast Engineering. Other reports say that the fall was anywhere between 8 and 15 meters. The death of Fabio is the third in the arena, with two others, Fabio Luis Pereira and Ronaldo Oliviera dos Santos, also having died in a construction mishap in November 2013. Two other deaths in Arena da Amazonia and Estadio Nacional Mane Garrincha also occurred earlier.

The FIFA organization is already under a lot of pressure to complete the preparations for World Cup 2014 after encountering several problems with logistics, delays and cost overruns. Brazil is busy making up for lost time to finish the infrastructures and related work for the official launch on June 12, 2014, featuring Brazil against Croatia in the Corinthians Arena.

Reuters writes that the stadium was expected to be complete in December 2013, but the deaths of Pereira and Oliviera postponed the delivery date to April 15, 2014. Work on other stadiums has also been very slow. Other challenges that FIFA organizers are facing include security threats and abandoned or delayed public transportation projects. Telecom networks and tents are not yet installed, which are usually already set up three months before the official launch. 

FIFA Secretary General Valcke, however, remains confident that they will successfully complete the preparations and infrastructure in time. Valcke recently met with officials of the Corinthian Arena to discuss the postponement and formulate strategies to save time and boost efforts.