JEDDAH: Some 750 days after the crane crash incident, the Penal Court in Makkah on Sunday acquitted all 13 people who were charged with negligence.
The court said they are not criminally responsible for the incident in which 108 people lost their lives and another 238 were injured when a crane involved in the Haram expansion project crashed on Sept. 11, 2015.
The Attorney General objected to the verdict and appealed against it. The court approved his request.
The Appeals Court had revoked an earlier verdict to overlook the case as it does not come under the jurisdiction of the court. It considered the case to be under Civil Defense. However, the Appeals Court asked the Penal Court to look into the case.
A massive construction crane had crashed into Makkah’s Grand Mosque in September 2015, killing 109 people, less than a fortnight before the Haj pilgrimage was supposed to start. The crane that crashed was one of several that the Saudi Binladin Group had erected as part of a multi-billion-dollar expansion plan to accommodate the increasing numbers of faithful.
