An African worker was injured Wednesday in the collapse of a pedestrian bridge under construction to link the fourth tier of the Jamarat Bridge to a Haramain Train station at Rabwat Al-Hadharim in Mina. A crane installing a beam on the bridge became unbalanced, which caused the beam to fall on adjacent beams and eventually cause nine concrete pillars to fall over and the total collapse of the bridge, Dr. Habib Zain Al-Abideen, undersecretary at the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs and chairman of the Central Administration for Development Projects at the holy sites, told Okaz/Saudi Gazette. He said such it is challenging to maintain a 100-percent safety record in constructing mega-projects and added that precautionary measures and safety tools at the site helped reducing the severity of the incident. Capt. Saleh Al-Olayyani, spokesman of the Civil Defense in Makkah, said the collapse occurred in Rabwat Al-Maghariba, located at the beginning of Mina, which led to the 30-meter concrete pillars falling over. He said the pillars were carrying the pedestrian bridge to the fourth floor. Capt. Al-Olayyani said 16 specialist teams from the Civil Defense rushed to the scene and a technical engineering committee has been formed to determine the reasons behind the collapse and estimate the losses.
