Saudi king sanctions Binladin Group after deadly crane collapse

An investigative commission has concluded that the company "was in part responsible" for Friday's tragedy

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's King Salman sanctioned the powerful Saudi Binladin Group Tuesday over the collapse of a construction crane at Makkah Grand Mosque, which killed more than 100 people days before the hajj pilgrimage.

An investigative commission had concluded that the company "was in part responsible" for Friday's tragedy, which killed at least 107 people and injured almost 400 during a severe thunderstorm accompanied by violent winds.

The company had not "respected the norms of safety" at the site, the official Saudi Press Agency said.

Read: Probe report filed on Saudi crane tragedy

The firm's executives have been forbidden from leaving the kingdom pending the completion of legal action against the company, SPA said.

During the same period, the company will also be excluded from new public projects.

The construction firm, which belongs to the family of the late Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, had been working for four years on a 400,000-square-metre (4.3-million-square-feet) enlargement of the Grand Mosque, to accommodate increasing numbers of pilgrims.

That is the equivalent of more than 50 football pitches, and will allow the complex to accommodate roughly two million people at once.

Compensation for crane collapse victims announced

Saudi Royal Court has announced compensation of one million Riyals for the bereaved families of the deadly crane collapse victims and half million for each of the injured.

No evidence of foul play was found in the incident and that it happened due to flawed positioning of the crane, the court added.