TOKYO — An Olympics construction worker has died of suspected heatstroke after falling unconscious as an intense heat wave batters Japan, causing scores of deaths and fuelling worries over Tokyo’s plans to host the Games next summer.
Across the country, at least 57 people died from the heat between July 29 and Aug. 4, while over 18,000 were brought to hospital and 100 are in serious condition, officials said. Some 45 died of heatstroke in Tokyo alone in the week to Aug. 7, police and medical officials told NHK. In the past, spectators have been banned from taking umbrellas and water bottles into venues, but experts warn this could cause problems for crowds lining up on treeless streets to enter venues. Organizers say they are negotiating with the International Olympic Committee to allow spectators to bring in water bottles.
The intense heat has also raised concerns about conditions for workers toiling away to complete Olympic venues. Critics have also expressed concerns about lack of formal employment contracts and long hours for Olympics construction workers in Japan, although nothing on the scale of the controversy attached to Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 soccer World Cup, where hundreds of Nepali migrant construction workers are reported to have died.
Wtf