The contractor of the Dammam Bridge Project said he and his company would bear responsibility for the bridge collapse Wednesday. The head of Al-Dirbas Contracting Company, Abdul Rahman Al-Dirbas, owned up at a press conference, Thursday morning. The accident resulted in one death and four injuries. Al-Dirbas expressed sadness for the victims and said the company would compensate the victims as per Saudi law. Al-Dirbas said the collapse was due to human error. A winch struck the sixth pillar on the outer bridge of the project, causing high stress on the seventh pillar. Workers were present around the seventh pillar when it collapsed. He said no one expected the workers to be there especially as the concrete work was done. The workers injured were fleeing the collapse of the seventh pillar. Al-Dirbas said that his company is executing several other projects which have not inflicted any injuries. Responding to a question on errors in projects his company executes in the city – errors which have sparked a debate between the Eastern Province's Mayoralty and the Municipal Council – Al-Dirbas said the company has addressed the Mayoralty three times through letters regarding the designs of the projects to be undertaken, but received no response. He said the errors were in the faulty designs. Al-Dirbas concluded his statement by appreciating the efforts of the Civil Defense members in dealing with the accident. After the wreckage is removed, the work would resume on Saturday, he said. He said he would meet the Mayor, Daif Allah Al-Otabi, on Saturday with all details pertaining to the accident. Al-Otabi said the Mayoralty has suspended the contractor pending investigation results expected within four days. Members from the Municipal and Rural Affairs Ministry, the Mayoralty, King Fahd University and international specialist companies are looking into the tunnels and bridges dossier, he said. Civil Defense teams extracted the body of the worker killed in the incident, at 8 A.M. Thursday. Conflicting information on the whereabouts of the worker had delayed recovery of his body by 20 hours, said General Hamid Al-Jo'aid, Civil Defense Chief in the Eastern Province. __
