Three workers died while more than 70 workers suffered serious injuries while building Dubai’s Expo 2020 site, reported news agency AFP, citing officials on Saturday, 2 October.
"Unfortunately, there have been three work-related fatalities, 72 serious injuries to date.”Expo statement
However, as per AFP, the officials have also insisted that their safety stands are “world class”, and also dubbed the welfare of labourers the Expo’s "top priority".
Pointing out that 247 million work hours had been completed at the site, the Expo statement also added that the frequency of accidents was lower than Britain's.
These figures reportedly came into the fore after the European Parliament criticised the the United Arab Emirates' human rights record and "inhumane" practises towards immigrant labourers, and called for a boycott of the six-month world fair.
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More than 2,00,000 workers constructed the huge site on the outskirts of Dubai.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who visited Expo on Saturday, said that their relationship with the UAE is a “strategic one” and France was "not part of" the European Parliament's resolution.
“…if we need to say something to UAE government, well we do so but behind close doors," Drian told reporters.
(With inputs from AFP)