Makkah Criminal Court acquits 13 defendants in Grand Mosque crane collapse

News Network
December 10, 2020

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Dubai, Dec 10: The Makkah Criminal Court on Wednesday issued a new ruling acquitting 13 defendants in the Grand Mosque Crane collapse case, including Saudi Binladin Group, Saudi media such as Okaz/Saudi Gazette reported.

In the new verdict, the court said it had found nothing new than what it had earlier ruled in the case.

It said it would send a copy of the verdict to the Court of Appeal to decide on the issue.

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

The court had said that the defendants 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 Grand Mosque expansion project collapsed on September 11, 2015.

The disaster was caused by heavy rains and thunderstorms, rather than human error or fault, the court had said in its previous judgement.

“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 declared in its decision. The Attorney General challenged the decision and appealed against it.

In December 2017, however, the Appeals Court upheld the previous ruling of the Criminal Court. The Appeals Court said 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 re-examine the case.

The court issued the new verdict on Wednesday after re-examining the entire aspects of the crane crash.

As per the latest Saudi media reports, 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. The warning showed that the wind speed in the Red Sea ranged between one and 38 kilometres per hour only, and did not include warning of the weather conditions with a possibility of hurricanes.

The court noted that there was no mention in the lawsuit about the warning of the General Authority of Meteorology and Environmental Protection that this disaster would occur. The court also indicated that what happened in Makkah that day could be attached to a celestial phenomenon that was difficult to predict. As such, the defendants cannot be held culpable or the tragedy.

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 expansion project. This is because the company which was implementing the project had an integrated department for monitoring weather fluctuations, which means that it was fully responsible for detecting and forecasting weather conditions and did 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 emphasised 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.

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Monday, 21 Dec 2020

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Wednesday, 16 Dec 2020

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News Network
December 2,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 2: Mangaluru International Airport responded to a medical emergency late on Monday night. Air India Express flight IX 522, travelling from Riyadh to Thiruvananthapuram, was diverted to Mangaluru Airport after a passenger in his late 30s experienced a medical emergency on board.

The Airport’s Operations Control Centre received an alert regarding the passenger’s health condition. The airport activated its emergency response protocol, mobilising the airport medical team and coordinating with stakeholders including CISF, immigration, and customs. 

Upon landing, airport medical personnel attended to the passenger, assessed his condition, and arranged to shift him to a local tertiary-care hospital for further treatment. The passenger’s relatives accompanied the passenger, who incidentally received necessary medical care on board, which helped stabilise the situation.

Following the handling of the emergency, the flight departed for Thiruvananthapuram at 2:05 am on Tuesday.

"We appreciate the cooperation of all parties involved, and this incident reaffirms our ongoing commitment to prioritising passenger safety and readiness to respond to unforeseen emergencies with professionalism and care," the Airport spokesperson said. 

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News Network
November 24,2025

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Israeli forces have pushed over the Syrian frontier, erecting a checkpoint and stopping vehicles in the southwestern city of Quneitra, in yet another breach of the Arab country’s sovereignty.

The violation took place on Sunday, when the troops made their way across the border, setting up the outpost near the Ain al-Bayda junction in northern Quneitra, Syrian outlets reported.

According to the al-Ikhbariya paper, an Israeli detachment positioned itself at the junction, halting cars and conducting searches.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that three Israeli military vehicles then moved further into the northern countryside, deploying between the town of Jubata al-Khashab and the villages of Ofaniya and Ain al-Bayda. The agency added that a separate Israeli unit mounted a new incursion in the central region, approaching the villages of Umm Batina and al-Ajraf.

Residents said such activities have surged in recent months, pointing to Israeli advances onto farmland, leveling of extensive forested areas, arrests, and spread of mobile checkpoints.

The Israeli regime began markedly increasing its military aggression against Syria last year.

The escalation coincided with increasingly ferocious onslaughts throughout the country by the so-called Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Takfiri terrorist group, which the government of President Bashar al-Assad had confined to northwestern Syria. The HTS, however, managed to overthrow the government as the Israeli attacks would pummel the country’s civilian and defensive infrastructure.

Various reports have shown that, during the escalation, the regime conducted more than 1,000 airstrikes on the Syrian territory and over 400 ground raids into the south.

Following the collapse of the Assad government, Tel Aviv also widened its grip over the occupied Golan Heights by taking control of a demilitarized buffer zone, in defiance of a 1974 Disengagement Agreement. Earlier this month, senior Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visited the buffer zone, prompting expressions of alarm on the part of the United Nations.

The United States, the regime’s biggest ally, has, meanwhile, been fraternizing the HTS head Abu Mohammed al-Jolani amid the widely reported prospect of rapprochement with Tel Aviv.

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News Network
December 2,2025

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Bengaluru: 'Nati koli saaru' (country chicken curry) considered one of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s favourites along with steaming hot idlis was on the breakfast menu at Deputy CM D K Shivakumar’s residence on Tuesday, according to official sources.

The spread also included 'nati koli' fry, vada and pongal, among other items, they said.

In an apparent show of unity, Siddaramaiah visited Shivakumar’s residence for breakfast, just days after the two leaders shared a meal amid a simmering power tussle in the state Congress.

Siddaramaiah drove to the Deputy CM’s residence in Sadashivanagar, where he was received by Shivakumar and his brother D K Suresh, who is a former Congress MP.

Suresh and Kunigal MLA H D Ranganath, a relative of Shivakumar, joined them for breakfast, which featured a mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes.

Speaking to reporters later, Siddaramaiah said Shivakumar had invited him during his visit to the CM’s residence for breakfast on Saturday.

Asked about the difference between the two meals, the chief minister said, "At his (Shivakumar’s) house it was non-veg, while at my house it was veg. He is a vegetarian, I am a non-vegetarian. I had not prepared non-veg. I told DK to get chicken from the village as you won’t get the original in Bengaluru."

Shivakumar said he had initially invited Siddaramaiah to his residence, but the CM had suggested visiting his place first and reciprocating later. "It was a vegetarian breakfast at the CM’s house on Saturday," he noted.

"Today, I invited him (the CM) to my house. He enjoyed the breakfast, which had his Mysuru taste," Shivakumar added. At this point, Siddaramaiah remarked that Shivakumar’s wife is also from Mysuru.

Saturday’s breakfast at Siddaramaiah’s official residence, held as part of efforts by the Congress high command to ease tensions in the leadership dispute between the two, reportedly included idlis and sambar, according to official sources.

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