Saudi court rules against providing blood money to Makkah crane crash victims
According to court orders, the incident was caused by natural causes, rather than human error.
MAKKAH (Web Desk) - Saudi Arabia’s Summary Court has ruled that the victims of the 2015 Makkah crane crash will not receive any compensation (diyyah or blood money), reported Saudi Gazette.
According to court orders, the incident was caused by natural causes, rather than human error or fault therefore; the compensation money will neither be given to the injured nor to the mosque for its damages.
“The crane was in an upright, correct and safe position. There was no error committed by the accused who took all the necessary safety precautions,” the court noted in its decision.
“The Attorney General did not present any solid evidence that the Binladin Group had violated safety rules. The evidence he had presented was not sufficient to incriminate the defendants,” the court said.
The court’s verdict came after thoroughly reviewing technical, engineering, mechanical and geophysical reports in addition to carefully studying the reports of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment which said it was the heavy rains and thunderous storms that caused the collapse of the crane.
The reports of a number of specialized international centers presented by the Binladen Group in addition to the reports of the Civil Defense before arriving at its final decision were also checked in the case.
Moreover, the court stated that the presence of the crane in its place in the eastern plaza of the Haram for more than two years was approved by the authorities concerned.
Saudi Arabia’s Attorney General while objecting to the verdict said that he would appeal against the ruling.
Earlier this month, a penal court had acquitted 13 employees of the Binladen Group charged with negligence in the 2015 crane crash incident which had resulted in deaths of at least 109 people. The men had been operating the crane for over two years before the incident.
The ruling has come contrary to past announcement of Saudi King Salman who had ordered that the families of those who died would be given SR1 million ($266,000) with SR500,000 ($133,000) going to the injured.
