The Way I See It
Who is responsible for the crane that fell in Makkah?

Who is responsible for the crane that fell in Makkah?

This too, will be taken just as God's will and be forgotten.

Imane Babar Wahedi September 13, 2015

On Friday, a huge construction crane crashed into Makkah’s Grand Mosque due to the stormy weather. Unfortunately, 107 people lost their lives in this catastrophe and numerous are still injured, thus fighting for their lives. 47 among them were Pakistani pilgrims.

The civil defence authority claimed that the emergency teams were sent to the scene, after the crane fell at the Grand Mosque. An hour before this incident, pictures of heavy rain in Makkah were circulating on social media; the authorities blamed the storm for this tragedy.

https://twitter.com/malicemagic/status/642064525160611840

Heavy rain with strong wind in #Mecca.
— asadh (@asadhshaheed) September 11, 2015

So, it makes me wonder, what were they doing during this hour?

Did it not occur to anyone that such a thing could happen? Or were they too arrogant to think that? Why did the authorities not take security precautions prior to this incident? Specifically, when heavy rains were forecasted in Makkah?

They say it’s better to be safe than sorry. So clearly, it was in the best interest of the state and those worshipping for safety measures to have been taken beforehand. But was this negligence?

As the pilgrimage has suffered several disasters in the past, which includes the worst stampede in 1990, that left 1,400 pilgrims dead. To make sure an event like that was never to be repeated, the Saudi authorities spent billions of pounds to expand the area of the mosque by 400,000 square metres. This is apparently why the construction cranes have been placed there in the first place.

A colleague of mine, who went to perform Umrah over three years ago saw the cranes there. It has been three years since she saw them there – so we can be sure that they have been there for a minimum of three years. And yet, the security risks were not taken into account? In all this time, no one thought, oh hey, shouldn’t we remove the cranes – those things can hurt people?

Did the authorities not deem it appropriate to close off that particular area to those praying nearby? Or was it financially unviable to do so?

While leaders from all over the world are offering condolences,

Saddened to learn of the death of pilgrims as a result of the crane accident in Haram Sharif.Condolences & prayers go to families of victims
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 11, 2015

My thoughts & prayers are with the families of those who lost their lives in the crane crash in Mecca. I wish the injured a quick recovery.
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 12, 2015

PM: My thoughts and prayers are with those who have lost loved ones at #mecca today.
— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) September 11, 2015

Prince Khaled al-Faisal has ordered an investigation into this incident; the authorities are looking in to why the crane wasn’t secured against high winds. But this is not rocket science. This calamity took place because there was a crane, in use or idle, placed in a crowded area. The inevitable was going to happen – havoc was going to be caused – one day or another. Did the concerned people not think of that at all?

الآن...برئاسة د.هشام الفالح مستشار #أمير_مكة
اجتماع لجنة تحقيق حادثة #سقوط_رافعة_الحرم المشكلة بتوجيه أمير المنطقة pic.twitter.com/kYQFUeQW3t
— إمارة منطقة مكة المكرمة (@makkahregion) September 11, 2015

Why did the governor of the Makkah not have the presence of mind to foresee such a calamity? Do you need to be an engineer to understand the risks?

Saudi Arabia rarely discloses its official inquiries; they tend to keep things private. But how long will they be able to keep such things behind thick curtains? The families of the deceased individuals are all over the world – they deserve answers. But will we get any answers? Will they?

Perhaps not.

This too, will be taken just as God's will and be forgotten. The people who died in Makkah have been deemed as martyrs. Their families may be placated with words like “S/he is in a much better place”, but their wounds will not heal.

My heart goes out to the individuals who have lost their lives in this negligent catastrophe. But I refuse to tell them that this calamity took place as just the will of God, or due to the rains. This also took place due to the negligence of the authorities responsible. Those people died because of negligence on the part of engineers who thought it would be smart to have cranes placed within the framework of the Grand Mosque. They died when a gigantic crane fell upon them in a place we all hold close to our hearts. They died because someone there didn’t care to do his/her job.

I would like to pass on my deepest condolences to families of the victims. May their souls rest forever in peace and may God give the families enough patience and strength to bear the loss of this unfortunate tragedy.

WRITTEN BY:
Imane Babar Wahedi The author is a Social Sciences graduate, her interests include writing, poetry, learning about different cultures and social issues. She tweets as @Imane_B_W (https://twitter.com/Imane_B_W)

The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

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COMMENTS (41)

Salman | 9 years ago | Reply I quote the author : "This calamity took place because there was a crane, in use or idle, placed in a crowded area. The inevitable was going to happen – havoc was going to be caused – one day or another." Firstly, there is a world's difference between the words and 'in' and 'around'. Secondly, I don't know about you but normal people don't lost their minds when they see a crane and somehow magically cause it to fall over!!! Please don't blame the victims or the crane! Decreasing the proximity between cranes and crowds does not cause them to fall over. Heck, cranes are hard-pressed to fall down even in their lonesome. Accidents happen regardless of whatever precautions you take. You said it yourself, the cranes were put there to prevent another stampede. Better 107, that a 107,000.

19640909rk . | 9 years ago | Reply This crane was operated by Bin-Laden group. They should be held responsible for its operation or accidents.

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kulwant singh | 9 years ago | Reply I thought you will say he willfully do this and why they employed an untrained person.

rationalist | 9 years ago | Reply Nothing ever happens without Allah's will.

khan | 9 years ago | Reply It doesn't make sense to blame to Saudi's like why were they doing it in the Hajj season? This is Masjid-al-Haram. There is no off-season. There are always several thousand people in the masjid 24x7 no matter whenever you visit. If you stop the expansion- then stampede happens! You can't help it. What happened the hour after this incident happened? More and more people continued to make tawaf. You can't help that. People are in love with Allah.

Zeeshan | 9 years ago | Reply It is a complete understandable for crane to present in this vicinity. After the accident everybody become Einstein. I believe the root cause is not with presence of crane in such a crowded place. how many time you have heard idle crane being toppled even in remote areas. At idle condition, falling of crane indicates some non standard adjustments have been made to crane lifting structure or counter weights or winds have broken all previous records.

Zubair Siddiqi | 9 years ago | Reply This article is poorly researched. It was a freak storm that hit Jeddah and Makkah, which is commonly know as the Western Region of Saudi Arabia. Since I live here, I may offer more insight. There are currently almost 100 cranes operating in Makkah and each is secured to the ground with 4000 tons of weight to keep them steady. The winds were freakishly strong and by large all the cranes held up. No one was responsible. It was just an accident due to abnormally high winds. If some negligence was involved, the law will take its due course. The author is looking for a conspiracy or a villain that is not there.

Syed Sajid Ali | 9 years ago | Reply Well if you ever visited Makkah than you will realize the length of this crane it wasn't nearby the crowded area first of all and the length of these cranes is at least 500-1000 foots so if it fell asides it will cover at least 300 foot area and they have these cranes tied to through sails but when accident have to happen it happens.

Muhammad | 9 years ago | Reply Yes well they cant stop Hajj or Umrah due to the construction work going on there. People come for Umrah throughout the year and you cant just seal off a portion or two of the mosque. This is a lot of pilgrims we are talking about here! The construction work has to continue all year due to the increasing demand for more space in the mosque for pilgrims. It is nobody's fault.

Saleem | 9 years ago | Reply Well, I can attest that the construction site does have a very high standard of safety and they constructor did place the safety and ease of pilgrims on higher priority. And as I visited during the Pindi Metro (ongoing??) project, I was amazed at their professionalism. We should realize that the Haram expansion project is huge. (Its not easy to operate a living heart). That said, I do agree with the writer that the authorities should have taken precautionary steps during the extreme storm.

Ejaz | 9 years ago | Reply It is an engineering problem, cranes are designed to withstand even higher wind speed. It is also confirmed by several dozen other cranes standing at the construction site. Full stop. The stability of the crane is controlled by the counter weight which adjusts its position on the boom to alance the load bein lifted. It seems this counterweight for some reasons was tempered with for , may be a technical reason. In these circumstances logic demands that the concerned engineers should have taken necessary precautionary measures when the storm started blowing, may be shifting the boom away from the populated area.

Kashan Khan | 9 years ago | Reply since chief engineer was arab it was bound to be 'from heavens' had he been a miskeen a different story.

Malik | 9 years ago | Reply Sure We Pakistani cant live without blaming someone , I have been lucky enough to visit Makkah couple of time & my family always try their best to spend last 10 days of Ramadan in Makkah or Madina . Now construction was going on both time i went their and every time my family comes back from umrah they mention about same thing . Its very easy to say that authorities should have removed the equipment and stooped the construction but truth is that due to ever expanding number of pilgrims it almost impossible to find the safe period in which construction to accommodate and facilitate pilgrims could be carried out ,

Linux Novice | 9 years ago | Reply !

Milind A | 9 years ago | Reply Well then why don't you extend this 'will of Allah' argument, to Western invasion of Afghanistan / Iraq, Palestine or any outrages that happen against Muslims.. Why keep fighting with us on Kashmir - its Allah's will that Kashmir remains with us..

Karachiite | 9 years ago ,, And its Allah's will that local Kashirmiri freedom fighters fight the occupying Indian regime. Why blame Pakistan,after all its Allah's will they Kashmiris are fighting and India is fuming..

El Cid | 9 years ago | Reply "Reasoning" is not allowed in religion. Period" I don't know your religion but Muslims take their cues from the Noble Qur'an. To think, ponder, search, quest, question, study, logic and reason...this theme runs through out the Glorious Qur'an. Logic, Reason, Truth...these are fundamental to Islam. Period !

Swaadhin | 9 years ago Iam not going to go into what faith says but looking at your comments on some of the other blogs, you seem to be the last person to be reason with.

Linux Novice | 9 years ago Well, at least that is the way, people follow it or not.

Ahmed | 9 years ago | Reply To all people referring to this incident as an act of god please grow-up. The government, officials, construction crew etc. should have been able to foresee or make plans for this scenario. This incident should be investigated, blame assigned and punishment dealt including compensation for the families of the victims.

Azmat Ali | 9 years ago Let's assume, just for a second, that every precaution was taken to secure the cranes, yet, due to the extreme and unforeseen severity of the weather, something broke and the crane fell. It could be a miscalculation on the part of those managing the site. I cannot imagine a location such as the Grand Mosque of Makkah to have been operated under laxity. The simple truth is that these things happen. They happen everywhere. All around the world. Despite the best of intentions and actions and precautions. Let`s learn from it and move on. And as for it being an Act of God or not, Sir, every breath you draw is an Act of God. Try taking one without His permission. I strongly recommend against it, though.

Sonya | 9 years ago | Reply Makka for Saudies have a value of a fat milking cow, hence all this expansion to raise their income, and on the other hand implement their version of Islam that demolishes each and every think that is linked to Prophet, his family and friends. The occupation of Makka must be brought to end and it be handed over to the league of muslim nations for a joint control.

Dija | 9 years ago | Reply My only comment would be that it was being expected that we would have millions of people in and around - under such a situation; as part of the standard operating procedure - the cranes should have been removed or secured; one needs to speculate such accidents / incidents well in advance - specially when the city can be faced with such strong storms etc, such heavy machinery if in the air can lead to a disaster at any point in time and should not be in vicinity when millions of precious lives are around.

Union Jack | 9 years ago | Reply It just reflects religious bigotry when some claims crane falling down as "nature's calamity". Having construction equipments around highly crowded area especially in season of Hajj is nothing short of gross negligence by the greedy construction company. Its like placing a sword hanging in air suspended using spider web. Saudis are greedy enough to never own their folly and rest of muslims are just so blinded by the "ummah" carrot fed by Saudis to them that they will never demand any action against them. A unfortunate disregard to lives lost. May peace be upon their souls.

Zafar | 9 years ago | Reply This accident has nothing to do with Hajj and the comparison with stampede is irrelevant. This could have been happened on any day due to the whether, but it is unfortunate it happened when the the Grand Mosque was full of pilgrims, which resulted in huge life loss.

Iftikhar Ali | 9 years ago | Reply Allah dee marzee

Parvez | 9 years ago | Reply Despite taking all reasonable precautions.....accidents do happen. The smart person learns from the mishap.

Rooha Sultan | 9 years ago | Reply Food for thought Well raised question ! May Allah grant jannah to the deceased ameen

Taimoor Alam | 9 years ago | Reply Young lady do not question. If Saudis did a perfect 1000% job then nothing they could do would could to prevent it. Allah (PBUH) willed it and the crane fell. You do not mention that it happened on 911 and it was caused by a flash of lightening. 99% of the readers here know it is the will of Allah (PBUH) so please do not come up with complex reasonings.

Mark | 9 years ago | Reply Allah Himself has forbidden blood shed in and around Masjid Al Haraam...???

Farooq | 9 years ago | Reply Please stop criticising, they did follow best standards and situations like this happen. All we can do is be more prepared next time. Please focus on Pakistan, which has got much bigger problems like donkey meat and Nandipur mess.

Abdul Sheik | 8 years ago ya man ..the people killed are expats ..and put the blame on expat engineers and technicians poor guys....nothing wrong with local authorities they were proactive all the time and take care of everything great article 100 out of 100.be smart accidents do happens despite you take highly precautions perod.

Tika | 9 years ago It was the Hindu operator of the crane. Incompetent, not well trained, with falsified documents from Bharat.

Abdulrauf Akhtar | 9 years ago When weather was predicted , why safety measure's were not taken.It need's to addressed

Karachiite | 9 years ago | Reply No one really can be blamed for an event triggered due to nature's fury. Just months before inauguration of Taipei 101 which was back being built as tallest building in the world, a similar crane fell after an earth quake which resulted in several deaths,Taiwan is a technologically advanced country and definitely world's best technologies must have been incorporated in building that quake resistant Taipei 101 but when nature's wrath strikes then even most technologically advanced countries and companies are also powerless. Japan's quake and tsunami and nuclear fall out is another example.

ishrat salim | 9 years ago | Reply First, it was indeed a sad incident. 2) it is not the responsibility of the local authorities to check the construction site for safety. It is responsibility of the contractor at site for all site safety & that includes securing all non-working cranes. 3) in this case, if you care to see all the shots of the incident, the cranes toppled backward, not side ways or front. This crane was supposed to have a recommended counter weight at the back which I think was not executed, that is why it toppled backward, that implies that the counter weight was not sufficient. 4) Ideally, all such cranes , tower cranes & self-climbing cranes ( which are operating in the area ) should have been properly secured on the ground with double counter weight, that seem to have been in place, otherwise, there could be more accidents, god forbid. 5) to correct you, 1400 people did not die due to stampeded in the haram mosque, but in jamrat for 3 consecutive years, last being 1996 ( I was on hajj & in jamrat ), since then it has been expanded & no further accidents have happened, Shukr Alhamdolillah. Shukr Alhamdolillah, had the cranes fell a little on the side ways while toppling over backward, it would have hit other cranes with destructive domino effect causing immense human loss. I live in Jeddah & have been visiting the haram area for long. The contractor ( Bin Laden) & the executing agency takes lot of safety measures since the beginning of expansion, but accident do happen & can happen due to even slight negligence & that is what seem to have happened in this case.For the past 3 years yes! inconvenience was & is there, but no accident of this kind ever took place. I invite you to come & see the construction operation which is something to watch & marvel. Construction of expansion continuously taking place under active area, no one can STOP people from visiting Haram, & with no injuries, except what took place this Friday, that was Allah`s will to open the eyes of the people working at site.

Abdullah Saleh Imran | 9 years ago | Reply "Reasoning" is not allowed in religion. Period

Xpecialist | 9 years ago | Reply You just had to use this tragedy to take a swipe at Saudi government, yea? "oh hey, shouldn’t we remove the cranes – those things can hurt people?" So It did not even occur to you that this is an active construction site and you think the administration left the cranes there just for the heck of it? By your own admission, these cranes have been there for at least 3 years, how many such or even minor on-site accidents have you heard of before? how many deaths because of falling cranes before this tragedy? Fact is, it was an act of God. Given the severe intensity of sand+rainstorm and heavy winds, this became a case of wrong timing & wrong place, hence something had to give - simple as that.

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