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Did 21,000 Workers Die Building The Line? What the Reported Figure Actually Covers

The reported 21,000 figure concerns deaths among workers from India, Bangladesh and Nepal in Saudi Arabia since 2017. It is not a verified death toll for The Line.
From TheFinanceBase Team4 min to read
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No verified public count establishes how many workers have died building The Line. The figure behind the headline is an ITV documentary’s reported estimate of more than 21,000 deaths among workers from India, Bangladesh and Nepal in Saudi Arabia since 2017, associated with Vision 2030. The B1M’s 2024 summary does not identify that figure as a count of deaths on The Line, or establish that every death was work-related.

What the reported figure does—and does not—count

The Line is a proposed linear city within NEOM, Saudi Arabia’s wider development program. The “100-mile” wording refers to the announced concept; it is not evidence of a completed structure or a death statistic.

The B1M’s 5 November 2024 report summarized an ITV documentary that linked the estimate of more than 21,000 deaths among Indian, Bangladeshi and Nepali workers in Saudi Arabia since 2017 to work associated with Vision 2030. That is a broad, national and program-linked figure—not an audited count for The Line, NEOM alone, or construction sites generally. The available reporting does not establish that all deaths in the estimate were occupational fatalities.

The documentary also included testimony about conditions at The Line. The Business & Human Rights Resource Centre’s October 2024 summary relayed allegations of 16-hour workdays, denied leave, long commutes and insufficient rest among workers constructing NEOM. NEOM said it was assessing the documentary’s claims and that contractors were subject to inspections. These are attributed allegations and a company response, not proof that every reported condition applied at every site.

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What investigations have documented at NEOM and elsewhere

Separate investigations provide evidence about individual cases and wider problems in how migrant-worker deaths are recorded and addressed. They do not verify the broad estimate or produce a The Line-specific total.

Deaths and families’ access to answers

Human Rights Watch’s 14 May 2025 report describes workplace deaths involving falls and electrocutions, as well as concerns that some deaths were classified as natural, investigations were inadequate, and families faced barriers to compensation. HRW said it interviewed families of 31 deceased workers from Bangladesh, India and Nepal, along with social workers and current workers, and reviewed available official documents.

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HRW also reported that 74 percent of 1,420 Indian migrant-worker deaths recorded at the Indian embassy in Riyadh in 2023 were attributed to “natural causes.” That figure describes death classification in embassy records; it is not an occupational death rate and does not establish how many of those people worked on NEOM or The Line.

Case studies connected to NEOM

FairSquare’s May 2025 report examined 17 Nepali men who died in Saudi Arabia during the preceding 18 months. It classified five deaths as workplace accidents and 12 as deaths from diseases or conditions. One man, Badri Bhujel, worked as a machine operator for Samsung C&T on a NEOM rail-tunnel project. FairSquare said a hospital certificate recorded respiratory conditions and a tuberculosis diagnosis, while a Ministry of Interior certificate listed “natural death.” This is a case involving NEOM infrastructure, not a verified death on The Line.

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ALQST’s NEOM briefing separately describes the reported December 2023 death of Pakistani engineer Abdul Wali Skandar Khan after a guardrail collapsed at a NEOM construction site. The briefing says his family sought answers and compensation. This reported case should be understood on its own; it cannot establish an aggregate toll.

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Why official and reported figures are not directly comparable

Saudi authorities disputed claims of widespread increases in work-related fatalities. The Saudi National Council for Occupational Safety and Health cited a rate of 1.12 work-related fatalities per 100,000 workers in 2024, as reported by FairSquare. FairSquare noted that the official figures it reviewed were based on insurance compensation claims, which may omit uninsured or undocumented workers and deaths for which no claim was made.

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The figures answer different questions and use different evidence:

Source or figure Population and scope What it establishes Important limit
ITV documentary, summarized by The B1M in 2024 Workers from India, Bangladesh and Nepal who died in Saudi Arabia since 2017; linked in the reporting to Vision 2030 A reported estimate of more than 21,000 deaths Not a verified The Line-only count; the available summary does not establish that every death was occupational.
Saudi National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, cited by FairSquare in 2024 Work-related fatalities expressed per 100,000 workers An official rate of 1.12 per 100,000 workers FairSquare says the figures it reviewed relied on insurance compensation claims, potentially excluding workers or cases outside that system.
Indian embassy records, reported by Human Rights Watch in 2025 1,420 Indian migrant-worker deaths recorded in Riyadh during 2023 74 percent were attributed to “natural causes” in those records A classification statistic, not a measure of workplace deaths or a project-specific count.
FairSquare case review, May 2025 17 Nepali men who died in Saudi Arabia during the preceding 18 months Five deaths reported as workplace accidents; 12 as diseases or conditions A case study, not a complete national or project-wide total.

An all-cause death estimate, a rate based on occupational claims, embassy classifications and a small case review cannot be added together or treated as competing counts of the same population. Their differences in geography, timeframe, death definition and record-keeping matter.

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What can be said with confidence

  • The available sources do not establish a reliable, complete count of deaths specifically among workers building The Line.
  • There are reported individual deaths connected to NEOM construction and infrastructure, alongside broader investigations into safety, death classification, investigation and compensation.
  • The evidence supports concern about how migrant-worker deaths are documented and whether families receive answers, but it does not justify presenting a Saudi-wide estimate as a The Line death toll.

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