Part of the Itaquerao stadium in Sao Paulo collapsed on Wednesday, killing at least two people and
causing significant damage, authorities said. The stadium in Sao Paulo will host the 2014 World Cup
opener in Brazil.
Former Corinthians president Andres Sanchez told a news
conference that two people were confirmed dead. Local media reported a
third person was hospitalized in serious condition. A fire department
official had said earlier that three people had died.
The accident happened at lunchtime, so not many workers were on site when the crane collapsed on top of the metal structure.
Television
images showed that part of a 500-ton metal structure cut through the
outer walls of Sao Paulo's Itaquerao Stadium, destroying some of the
seats on the east side of the venue and crashing into a massive LED
panel that runs across the stadium's facade.
The accident could further delay delivery of the
stadium, which was practically finished before Wednesday's collapse.
FIFA has set a December deadline for all 12 World Cup venues to be
ready.
The venue is scheduled to host other
five matches, including a semifinal. It was initially expected to be
built for the Confederations Cup this year, but delays with financing
for the venue prompted authorities to scrap the stadium from the World
Cup warm-up tournament.
It was not the first problem with World Cup stadiums in Brazil.
One worker died during construction of a stadium in the capital
Brasilia last year and another in the Manaus venue in March. Also in
March, heavy rains flooded the construction site of the Maracana
Stadium, forcing the cancellation of a FIFA inspection visit at the
time. In May, a small part of the roof at the Salvador stadium fell in
after it was not able to sustain the large amount of water that settled
on top of it.
The Sao Paulo stadium, which cost nearly $360 million, will
seat nearly 70,000 people for the opener on June 12, when Brazil will
play. About 20,000 seats will be temporary and installed only for the
World Cup.
"The safety of workers is the top priority for FIFA, the LOC, the
federal government. We know the safety of all workers has always been
paramount for all the construction companies contracted to build the 12
FIFA World Cup stadiums," FIFA said in a statement on Wednesday.
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said he was "extremely shocked by the news from Sao Paulo."
"Our thoughts are with the families of the victims of this accident," he said.
