Work at Brazil's World Cup stadium halted after worker dies

Construction of soccer stadiums for world tournament has seen 7 worker fatalities

SAO PAULO, March 31 (Reuters) — Brazilian authorities halted work at the temporary stands of the stadium that will host the opening match of this year's World Cup following the death of a worker, the company in charge of the construction said on Monday.

The regional labour authority of Sao Paulo demanded that Fast Engenharia stop building to make a technical analysis of the project, the company said in a statement. Fast Engenharia said that after the analysis it will announce a new time frame for finishing the temporary stands.

Fabio Hamilton da Cruz died on Saturday after falling 25 feet (7.6 meters) while installing floors on the stands, becoming the third construction worker to perish while working on the Arena Corinthians on the outskirts of Sao Paulo. Seven workers have died building Brazil's World Cup stadiums.

The stadium was supposed to be finished in December but the delivery date was pushed back after two workers were killed in November when a crane toppled over.

Work has been slow since then and there is concern that safety may be taking a back seat to haste as workers rush to finish the stadium in time.

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