14 May 2025
Underlying Causes: Unexplained migrant worker deaths in Saudi Arabia
Summary
Date Reported: 14 May 2025
Location: Saudi Arabia
Companies
Qiddiya Investment Company - ClientAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Cleaning & maintenance , Men , Unknown migration status ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Shipping & handling: General , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Deaths , Occupational Health & Safety , Intimidation , Access to Non-Judicial RemedyResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Resource Centre
Story containing response: (Find out more)
Action taken: The company responded to the Resource Centre, saying the health, safety, and welfare of workers is a core priority for our organisation and is embedded across all aspects of our operations. The worker's death has allegedly left the family in "huge debt". The family has been unable to contact his employers to ask about compensation and at the time of writing has yet to receive any of the 13,000 Saudi riyals ($3,500) in salary and end-of-service benefits.
Source type: NGO
Summary
Date Reported: 14 May 2025
Location: Saudi Arabia
Companies
NEOM Co. - Client , Samsung C&T - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Nepal , Construction , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Occupational Health & Safety , Deaths , Access to Information , Access to Non-Judicial RemedyResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Resource Centre & Journalists
Action taken: FairSquare wrote to Samsung C&T on 20 March 2025 to inquire if they had initiated any investigation into the circumstances of the worker's death, but at the time of publication they had not responded. The Resource Centre reached out to NEOM to request comment; the company did not respond. The family say compensation would be helpful.
Source type: NGO
Summary
Date Reported: 14 May 2025
Location: Saudi Arabia
Other
Not Reported ( Cleaning & maintenance ) - Employer , Not Reported ( Recruitment agencies ) - RecruiterAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Nepal , Cleaning & maintenance , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Deaths , Access to Information , Access to Non-Judicial Remedy , Restricted access to medicines , Social Security , Restricted mobilityResponse
Response sought: No
Source type: NGO
Summary
Date Reported: 14 May 2025
Location: Saudi Arabia
Other
Not Reported ( Construction ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Nepal , Construction , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Deaths , Access to Information , Access to Non-Judicial RemedyResponse
Response sought: No
Source type: NGO
Summary
Date Reported: 14 May 2025
Location: Saudi Arabia
Other
Not Reported ( Construction ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - India , Engineering , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Heat exposure , Occupational Health & Safety , IllnessResponse
Response sought: No
Source type: NGO
Summary
Date Reported: 14 May 2025
Location: Saudi Arabia
Other
Not Reported ( Retail ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - India , Retail , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Heat exposure , Occupational Health & SafetyResponse
Response sought: No
Source type: NGO
Summary
Date Reported: 14 May 2025
Location: Saudi Arabia
Other
Not Reported ( Sector not reported/applicable ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Nepal - Sector unknown , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Deaths , Access to Information , Access to Non-Judicial RemedyResponse
Response sought: No
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 14 May 2025
Location: Saudi Arabia
Other
Not Reported ( Construction ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Nepal , Construction , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Deaths , Occupational Health & Safety , Denial of leave , Illness , Access to Information , Access to Non-Judicial RemedyResponse
Response sought: No
Source type: NGO
Summary
Date Reported: 14 May 2025
Location: Saudi Arabia
Other
Not Reported ( Construction ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Construction , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Deaths , Occupational Health & Safety , Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time , Access to Information , Access to Non-Judicial RemedyResponse
Response sought: No
Action taken: The worker's widow received 2.1 million rupees ($15,000) from Nepal’s foreign employment board and Nepal’s insurance scheme, which all workers pay into before leaving for work abroad, but has no other means of income to raise her children
Source type: News outlet
Summary
Date Reported: 14 May 2025
Location: Saudi Arabia
Companies
Sela - ClientOther
Not Reported ( Cleaning & maintenance ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: Number unknown
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Location unknown , Cleaning & maintenance , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Deaths , Occupational Health & Safety , Reasonable Working Hours & Leisure Time , Heat exposure , Access to Non-Judicial RemedyResponse
Response sought: Yes, by Resource Centre
Action taken: The company did not respond. The family of the worker said they have not received anything, although the company is allegedly assisting them with insurance claim for compensation.
Source type: NGO
Summary
Date Reported: 14 May 2025
Location: Saudi Arabia
Other
Not Reported ( Construction ) - EmployerAffected
Total individuals affected: 4
Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Nepal , Construction , Men , Unknown migration status ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - India , Construction , Men , Unknown migration status ) , Migrant & immigrant workers: ( Number unknown - Sudan , Construction , Men , Unknown migration status )Issues
Deaths , Occupational Health & Safety , Injuries , Access to Non-Judicial RemedyResponse
Response sought: No
Source type: NGO
A FairSquare investigation into the deaths of low-paid migrant workers in Saudi Arabia suggests there is a critical absence of effective policies and processes to determine the cause of migrant worker deaths. An examination of the cases of 17 men - all from Nepal, employed in construction and other low-paid sectors, on major projects including NEOM - who died in Saudi Arabia in the last 18 months, finds serious shortcomings in the manner in which the authorities in Saudi Arabia investigate and certify migrant worker deaths.
Saudi Arabia’s migrant worker workforce grew by 40%, to 13.2 million, in the five years up to 2024. The surge in recruitment of foreign workers takes place in the context of Vision 2030, the guiding framework for Saudi policymaking, which aims to transform the country’s economy and which includes a plethora of “giga-projects”, such as the futuristic tech city NEOM…
The problem goes deeper than a simple failure to share data, however. Death certification documents issued by the Ministry of Interior in cases of deaths of non-Saudi Arabian nationals often do not reflect information contained on medical death certificates and appear to state the cause of death in all nonviolent deaths as “natural death”…