MAKKAH – Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, emir of Makkah and advisor to Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, had instructed Bakr Bin Ladin, chairman of the Saudi Bin Ladin Group, to ensure the safety of tower cranes 11 days before the occurrence of the Grand Mosque crane crash tragedy, Makkah daily reported. The emir, who is also chairman of the Central Haj Committee, instructed the group to take all necessary safety and security measures at the Grand Mosque expansion project site. The directives included relocating the cranes from pedestrian areas, facilitating use of areas where construction works were over, and prevention of pilgrims' entry to construction site with close monitoring and deploying of security guards. The committee that investigated the crash found that the project contractor had ignored several messages from concerned agencies to review the condition of the cranes. The committee came to the conclusion that strong winds combined with a violation of safety standards regarding the positioning of the crane was the main cause of the tragedy. “The strong winds caused the crash while the crane was in a wrong position. The position of the crane was in violation of the operational instructions from the manufacturer” the report pointed out. The contractor also failed to follow the weather forecast from the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment, the report pointed out.
