- The government of Saudi Arabia has suspended construction giant Saudi Binladin Group from working on new contracts following Friday’s crane collapse at Mecca’s Grand Mosque which killed 107 people.
- The crane toppled over at Mecca’s Grand Mosque last Friday, less than two weeks before Islam’s annual hajj pilgrimage.
- The company, one of the largest contracting companies in the kingdom, had been carrying expansion work at the Grand Mosque.
- An official statement referred without elaborating to the responsibility and “shortcomings” of the company following an investigation into the crane crash that also injured 238 other people.
- The company is believed to have attributed the collapse to a lightning strike breaking a cable that was used to secure the crane.