Saudi official blames winds for crane crash

Pilgrims walking near the crane which crashed in the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

Reuters, DPARiyadhA senior Saudi official said yesterday that stormy winds knocked over the crane which collapsed onto the Grand Mosque in Makkah and killed 107 people on Friday. “Heavy rain and strong winds of unusually high speed led to the uprooting of trees, the fall of panels and the collapse of the crane,” General Suleiman al-Amr, director general of the Civil Defence Authority, told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV yesterday. The number of deaths may increase, al-Amr said. Many of the 238 people injured in the accident were only lightly wounded, he said. Makkah’s governor, Prince Khaled al-Faisal, has ordered an investigation into the incident, Al Arabiya said. Much of the city centre is undergoing construction work and many high cranes crowd the skyline. The Grand Mosque itself is undergoing an expansion and renovation. An unnamed Saudi official involved in organising the Haj was quoted by Al Arabiya as saying the pilgrimage would go ahead as planned. “The incident won’t affect the Haj pilgrimage this year and repairs to the damaged section (of the mosque) will begin within days,” the official said.The Saudi ministry of health said that 95 of the injured had already left hospital after receiving medical care.The ministry emphasised that the situation was stable and all hospitals had already been processed in preparation for the Haj season.Friday’s accident occurred only about an hour before evening Mahgrib prayers. Another official said that  authorities were examining safety standards of construction equipment at the Grand Mosque. “The contractor in charge has been asked to ensure safety standards in all cranes at the site under the supervision of a specialised team,” Hesham al-Faleh, the head of governmental agency for Makkah development, said. He added that an inquiry commission had inspected the site of the incident late Friday. “Causes of the accident will be announced after investigations are completed,” al-Faleh said in a statement. There was no official word on the nationalities of the victims. However, Egypt said yesterday that two of its pilgrims had died due to the injuries they had sustained in the crane fall. Pakistan meanwhile said that 47 of the people injured in the incident were Pakistani pilgrims. In New Delhi, officials said that two Indian Haj pilgrims, one from Kerala and the other from West Bengal, were among the victims. The injured included 15 from India, according to the officials. Pages 10, 20King vows to find cause of tragedy Saudi Arabia’s King Salman yesterday vowed to find out what caused a crane collapse that killed 107 people at Makkah’s Grand Mosque.  “We will investigate all the reasons and afterwards declare the results to the citizens,” he said after visiting the site.