Saudi Arabia to hold trial over crane disaster

RIYADH: Suspects including engineers and two government employees will face trial in Saudi Arabia over the crane disaster in Masjid al Haram. It resulted in the deaths of 107 people. This was reported by a local newspaper on Tuesday.

Al Riyadh, an Arabic newspaper quoted a source saying that investigators and the prosecution had completed an eight-month investigation. They said that the case was conducted in secrecy and which involved questioning a number of suspects.

“The court is in the process of deciding the (date of the) first hearing in coming days after the judge studies the case,” al-Riyadh said.

The paper did not specify what the charges were or how many people would face trial apart from the three.

The crane disaster September 2015 was embarrassing for the Saudi royal family, which happened less than two weeks before Hajj.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 13^th, 2016.