Okaz/Saudi Gazette

MAKKAH — The Makkah Criminal Court issued on Wednesday a new verdict acquitting 13 defendants in the Haram Crane crash case, including Saudi Binladin Group, Okaz/Saudi Gazette has learned from the court sources.

The court stated in the verdict that it was found nothing new except what it had ruled earlier in the case of the 13 defendants and that it will send the copy of the verdict to the Court of Appeal to decide on the issue.

In an earlier verdict on Oct. 1, 2017, the Makkah Criminal Court had acquitted all the 13 defendants who were charged with negligence.

The court said then that 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 Makkah court had also ruled that the disaster was caused by heavy rains and thunderstorms, rather than human error or fault.

“The crane was in an upright, correct and safe position. There was no error committed by the accused, who had taken all the necessary safety precautions,” the court noted in its decision. The Attorney General objected to the verdict and appealed against it.

However, the Appeals Court in its verdict in December 2017 upheld the previous ruling of the Criminal Court. The Appeals Court cited that the crane, though placed in a safe position, toppled due to a severe thunderstorm and violent winds. The court also directed the Criminal Court to reexamine the case.

The court issued the new verdict on Wednesday after reexamining the entire aspects of the crane crash.

The court noted that the General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection had issued a bulletin on weather conditions on the day of the accident and the day before it, and the warning showed that the wind speed in the Red Sea ranged between one and 38 kilometers per hour only, and did not include warning of the weather conditions with a possibility of hurricanes.

The court observed that there was no mention in the lawsuit about the warning of the General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection that this disaster would happen. The court also indicated that what happened in Makkah that day could be attached to a celestial phenomenon that was difficult to predict. Hence, the defendants cannot be held accountable for the tragedy.

It is noteworthy that the Court of Appeal had stressed, in its earlier ruling, the need to clarify, define and know precisely the tasks of the safety division of the Haram project, since the company, which is implementing the project, has an integrated department for monitoring weather fluctuations, which means that it is fully responsible for detecting and forecasting weather conditions and does not need to wait for meteorological reports.

The Court of Appeal also drew attention to the response of an official among the defendants that he was not informed of the outbreak of the storm on the day of the crane tragedy, as it occurred on Friday during which he was on leave. The appeals court’s remarks emphasized that none of the accused officials indicated that there was a special meteorology unit associated with the project.

The court also noted the dereliction of duty on the part of the Environmental Department affiliated to the Department of Safety and its role in collecting reports on weather conditions and preparing daily reports. The court also directed a first grade court to examine this aspect of the incident.