Inside Saudi Arabia's £1tn Neom megacity project 'with 21k workers dead & labourers trapped like slaves'

Saudi Arabia is accused of overseeing the deaths of more than 21,000 workers to complete the country's £1 trillion 2023 Neom project, according to a new expose.

Migrant workers have been allegedly exploited by locals with many employed in construction having gone missing as they labour to complete Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Saudi Vision 2030 project. The project aims to transform the conservative Muslim country from an oil state into.

But Saudi Arabia has been accused of overseeing horrendous conditions leading to the deaths of tens of thousands of workers and as many as 100,000 having gone missing during the construction of NEOM. The being employed in the country - an estimated 39 percent of the country's total population.

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Thousands of workers from Indian, Bangladesh and Nepal have died to complete the Crown Prince's dream, according to new figures from . Nepal's Foreign Employment Board claims that 650 Nepalese worker's deaths are unexplained. In the ITV documentary, a female journalist called Noura spoke with people working on The Line. The project aims to create a futuristic 100-mile long city with a million residents living in the desert.

One worker told her, he often works 16 hour days in a bid to build a high-speed train tunnel for the project. Over the course of a week, the migrant worker said he can end up doing about 84 hours. Saudi Arabian law states no one should work more than 60 hours a week. The migrant worker said: "We’re made to work extremely hard. There is little time to rest.

"We get tired. We suffer from anxiety day and night. Saudi doesn’t care much for citizens from other countries. We are treated like beggars.”

Human rights organisation FairSquare director Nicholas McGeehan is reported in The Sun as having said: "These working hours are way beyond what the international minimum standards permit. The reality is that workers all over Saudi Arabia are subject to deeply abusive and dangerous exploitation. The abuses are systematically happening across the country.”

In another clip in the ITV documentary, several migrant workers said: "We feel like trapped slaves." Others claimed they have not been paid for 10 months. In a statement, NEOM told the network: "We are assessing the claims made in this programme and, where required, will take appropriate action.

"We require all contractors and subcontractors to comply with NEOM’s Code of Conduct, based on the laws of Saudi Arabia and the policies of the International Labour Organization. They are subject to frequent inspections of their workers’ living and working conditions.”

ITV said they put allegations made in the film to the Saudi government but have not received a reply. ITV's Kingdom Uncovered: Inside Saudi Arabia aired on the channel at 10:15pm on Sunday.