Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on Tuesday ordered that top officials of the Saudi Binladin Group be banned from traveling outside the kingdom after probers pinned the blame partially on the construction company for Friday’s deadly crane crash in Makkah.
A royal court announcement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said the king is reviewing the report of the Accident Investigation Committee, which suggested negligence on the part of the Saudi Binladin Group, but concluded that it found an “absence of criminal suspicion.”
The report said “the main reason for the accident is the strong winds while the crane was in a wrong position.”
Some 111 people were killed and 331 injured when the giant crane being used in the expansion project at the Grand Mosque toppled and crashed into a portion of the mataf (circumambulation area) around the holy Kaaba on Sept. 11.
Pending completion of the investigation, all members of the Board of Directors of Binladin Group, as well as Bakr bin Mohammed bin Ladin and senior executives in the group and others connected with the project are banned from leaving the kingdom, said the royal court order.
King Salman also ordered the payment of 1,000,000 Saudi Riyyah to the family of each person killed in this accident; 1,000,000 Saudi Riyyah to each injured whose injury resulted in permanent disability and 500,000 Saudi Riyyah to each of the other injured.
According to SPA, such payment would not deprive the families of the deceased as well as the injured from the right to claim for private right before the competent judicial authorities.
The king also issued directives to host two family members of the deceased as the king’s guests to perform Haj next year.
“The injured who cannot perform Haj this year can perform Hajj next year as the king’s guests. The families of the injured who stay in hospitals for treatment shall be granted visit visas to take care of the injured during the remaining period of Hajj and return back to their country,” the royal court said.
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