Qatar “cannot be allowed to hide the truth any longer,” an ITUC spokesperson told the Star yesterday, after World Cup organisers confirmed that another migrant worker died on a 2022 stadium site last week.

Forty-eight-year-old Indian man Jaleshwar Prasad died after he “fell ill on-site around 9.30am on Wednesday,” said a statement released at the weekend.

“The Qatar authorities were quick to announce that the tragic death of Jaleshwar Prasad was not due to his working conditions, despite the absence of any proper investigation into why he died at work,” said an ITUC spokesperson.

“With temperatures reaching close to 40°C every day, Qatar’s migrant construction workforce is continually exposed to extreme temperatures for long hours at work.

“This is without any question a major reason for the appallingly high fatality, injury and illness rates as Qatar races to complete the huge World Cup infrastructure programme.

“Qatar cannot be allowed to hide the truth any longer.”

The statement released on the weekend said that Prasad, who was a steel worker employed on the Al-Bayt Stadium project, “received first-aid treatment until paramedics arrived. He was transferred to Al-Khor Hospital but sadly passed away around 9.30am. Al Khor Hospital reported the cause of death as cardiac arrest.”

ITUC general secretary Sharan Burrow told the Star last month that the global tournament should be stripped from Qatar following Havard lecturer John Ruggie’s report recommended that “tournaments should be removed from countries if hosts are failing to eradicate abuses.”

Qatar has refused to drop the kafala system, which sees workers forced to pay recruitment fees, have their passports confiscated, go without pay and risk their health and safety.

Qatar’s population of 2 million is almost entirely made up of migrant wokers, mostly from Asia.