Saudi Binladin Group Halted From Production After Crane Disaster in Mecca
Saudi authorities have determined that the Saudi Binladen Group, a multinational construction conglomerate, is partially responsible for a crane collapse that killed 107 people at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
The BBC reports the official Saudi Press Agency says an investigative commission has ruled that the company had not "respected the norms of safety."
Aside from the people that were killed when the crane fell during a storm, nearly 400 worshippers were injured. The tragic accident occurred less than two weeks before the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
The crane smashed into the part of the Grand Mosque where worshippers circle the Kaaba, a sacred cube which Muslims pray towards each day.
Executives at the company, which is owned by the family of the late al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, have been forbidden from leaving the country until the investigation is over. King Salman has ordered that Binladen firm will be barred from any new public contracts during this time.
For four years the group has been working on enlarging the Grand Mosque, known as the Masjid al-Haram.
The company has not issued a statement regarding their suspension of production.
As reported in Reuters, John Sfakianakis, the regional director at Ashmore Group, said, "The state wants to show to both the corporate and the Islamic world that they will address any wrongdoing and that they are on top of things."
The Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, has a history of disasters which have resulted primarily form stampedes as pilgrims hurry through to complete their required rituals.
As reported in the New York Times 2006 saw a stampede which killed 345 people and injured as many as 1,000. This had been the deadliest Hajj-related tragedy since 1990, when 1,400 worshippers were killed at the holy site.
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