Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that Eid al-Adha, one of two important religious holidays observed by Muslims around the world, will start on Thursday, September 24, a day earlier than expected, Al Arabiya News Channel reported on Sunday.
The announcement was made after the kingdom’s official moon-sighting body watched for the Dhul Hijjah crescent, which is the twelfth and final month in the Islamic calendar.
The Islamic lunar calendar depends on sightings of the moon – a practice which can at times prove difficult.
Eid al-Adha honors the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his promised son, Ishmael as an act of submission to God’s command. It is separate from Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.
Eid celebrations start after the descent of the pilgrims performing from Mount Arafat, a hill east of Makkah. Eid sacrifices - where an animal, often a goat, is slaughtered - may take place until sunset on the 13th day of Dhul Hijjah.
The crane that crashed into the Grand Mosque on Friday was fixed to the ground with four foundations, each weighing 1,000 tons, and it fell after one of its arms broke due to strong winds, said sources familiar with the Grand Mosque Expansion Project.
The project contractor has been told to ensure safety of all the other cranes at the mosque in Makkah while an investigation is still under way to determine the exact cause of the accident.
“The intense wind power created increasing load on the crane, causing the accident. Now, the problem is to dismantle the crane, which is still hanging midair,” the source was quoted as saying by local media on Sunday.
The source denied that the company’s shortcomings caused the accident, adding: “Company officials attended to the site immediately after the incident and have followed up on the situation closely.”
Hisham Al-Faleh, adviser to Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and general-supervisor of the Emirate’s Development Agency, said the committee that was formed by the prince to investigate the causes of the accident has already begun its work.
“After Prince Khaled called for the formation of a committee, an immediate visit was made to the site, and the first meeting of the committee was held after midnight yesterday (Saturday).”
He said the committee reviewed all initial reports of the incident from various sources, while specialized Saudi engineers from a number of agencies have been tasked to identify the exact causes.
“All related agencies have been instructed to cooperate fully with them and provide them with any photographed report from the operations room,” he said.
King Salman orders SR1 million compensation for injured with permanent disability. Half a million riyal compensation for those injured in Haram accident.
Two relatives of the deceased will be King’s guests for Haj of 2016.
Probe finds Bin Ladin Group partially responsible for the accident.
No criminal intent in the accident but violations found in crane’s functioning
Royal Court: the cause of the accident is exposure of crane to severe winds and being in the wrong position
Binladin Group partially responsible for tragedy; board of directors banned from travel
Group won’t take part in any bids or undertake any future projects
الديوان الملكي: سبب الحادث تعرض الرافعة لرياح قوية وكونها في وضعية خاطئة
via Al-Madina Newspaper - جريدة المدينة
The King was briefed on the report of the committee that carried out probe into the accident. The report found there was no criminal intent in the accident.
However, there had been violation of safety rules in the operation of the crane. The committee came to the conclusion that strong winds combined with violation of safety standards regarding the positioning of the crane was the main cause of the tragedy.
“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.
According to the operational instructions, the main working arm of the crane should have been lowered while it was not in use or during high winds.
There was also failure in following safety regulations while operating the crane. Those officials in charge of safety of the crane did not abide by the instructions cited in the operational manual.
The officials also failed to follow the weather forecast from the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME).
Moreover, they also ignored several messages from the concerned agencies to review the condition of the cranes, especially the crane involved in the accident.
The committee recommended that Saudi Binladin Group shall own partial responsibility of the accident. It also called for reviewing the contract with the project’s consultancy firm Kanzas Company, in addition to reviewing the condition of all the cranes at the project site.
Saudi king imposes penalty on Binladin Group after Makkah crane crash
15 September 2015
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's King Salman on Tuesday sanctioned the Saudi Binladin Group for last Friday's crane collapse at Mecca's Grand Mosque, which killed more than 100 people days before the hajj pilgrimage.
The construction firm belongs to the family of the late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
According to the official Saudi Press Agency, executives in the firm are forbidden from leaving the kingdom pending the completion of judicial action against it following the collapse at Islam's holiest site.
Moreover, Saudi Royal Court has announced one million Riyals as compensation for the bereaved families of martyrs and half million for injured of Makkah crane crash incident, Radio Pakistan reported on its website.
The Royal Court, however, said it did not find any conspiracy in its preliminary investigations into the incident.
It said that incident happened due to wrong positioning of the crane.
The Saudi Royal Court, Tuesday, announced that the investigation into the deadly crane collapse in Makkah which occurred Friday, found there was no criminal intent.
The report said strong winds combined with a violation of safety standards regarding the positioning the crane led to the tragedy.
The royal court has decided to pay one million Riyals (about $270 000) to the family of each person killed, and to those suffering injuries which have led to a permanent disability as a result of the incident, along with 500.000 Riyals to each of the injured.
The royal court has also decided to suspend the Binladin construction group’s from undertaking any future projects.
The court ordered the finance ministry to review all of the Binladin group’s projects and impose a travel ban on all of the Binladin’s family members until the completion of investigations.
Bin Laden Group sanctioned over deadly crane crash
Muslim pilgrims walk past the site of a crane collapse that killed over a hundred Friday at the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Makkah on Tuesday. Construction giant Saudi Binladen Group has been blamed partially for the collapse last week of the crane. (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
15 September 2015
JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on Tuesday ordered that top officials of the Bin Laden 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 Bin Laden 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 Bin Laden Group, as well as Bakr bin Mohammed bin Laden 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 the following to the families of the victims:
1. SR1,000,000 to the family of each person killed in this accident; 2. SR1,000,000 to each injured whose injury resulted in permanent disability; 3. SR500,000 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 issuef 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 Hajjnext 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.
Liebherr is constructing a huge sunshade for the mosque in Mecca
In December 2012, Liebherr concluded a contract for the construction of a large, folding sunshade for the Grand Mosque in Mecca with one of the most important construction project developers in Saudi Arabia.
The sunshade that has been commissioned will create shade for an area of approx. 2400 m² when open. The membrane of the sunshade will be at a height of 30 m and have a span of 53 m. It is stretched by means of eight telescoping arms that each comprise of a heel piece and two hydraulically extendable telescopic parts. In a mixture of proven technology and solutions that are being developed, the sunshade is a construction as well as a technologically demanding system with intricate controls developed in-house by Liebherr. The development of the components and the folding mechanism constituted a substantial challenge, with the extent of the moving weights, the manufacture of the large parts and the attachment of the membrane proving to be equally challenging.
The sunshade, which has a total weight of 600 tonnes, will be built-up within the next two years at the Liebherr-Werk Ehingen GmbH, tested and then delivered to the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
Subsequent to the delivery, several sunshades of this design are to follow the prototype. Furthermore, the delivery of numerous smaller sunshades is envisaged as previously installed in 2009 and 2010 in Medina (Saudi Arabia). 19/01/2013
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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by @meccamoon
