It was inevitable that it would be a worldwide story. Two
construction workers killed in a partial collapse of a stadium being built to
host the Football World Cup opening game in Brazil next year.
How did the relevant Brazilian parties respond to this
news?
When contacted by Reuters shortly after the incident, the
building company, Brazilian industrial conglomerate Odebrecht, declined to
comment. I accept they didn’t have all the information but to not even offer an
expression of sorrow is pretty extraordinary.
The stadium owner released a terse statement that read
“The board of Sport Club Corinthians Paulista hereby deeply regret the accident
earlier in Corinthians Arena. No other information at this time.” Can you
imagine a British company getting away with that?
Contrast that with FIFA’s response: "We have learnt
of the death of workers with great sadness … The local authorities will fully
investigate the reasons behind such a tragic accident."
In the absence of information, you won’t be surprised to
hear that there was immediate speculation that the collapse could delay the
delivery of the stadium in time for Fifa's December deadline. And that the
media rehashed past stories about how Brazil has struggled to deliver stadiums,
public transportation improvements and other World Cup-related projects.
When Odebrecht did release a statement, I don’t think
it’s one that you or I would have written:
“Odebrecht Infraestrutura and Sport Club Corinthians
Paulista regrettably inform that an accident occurred this afternoon on the
construction site of Arena Corinthians that led to the death of two workers:
Fábio Luiz Pereira, 42, a Munck operator/driver from the company BHM, and
Ronaldo Oliveira dos Santos, 44, an assembler from the company Conecta. Shortly
before 1 p.m., the crane lifting the last module of the stadium’s metallic
roofing structure toppled, which led the module to fall onto a circulation area
of the east building and partially damage the LED façade. The stadium structure
was not compromised. This was the 38th time that this procedure had been
carried out on the site and a module the same size had been installed just over
a week ago in the stadium’s south sector. Teams from the fire department are
currently on the location. At this moment, all efforts are being concentrated
on offering complete assistance to the families of the victims.”
