Dive Brief:
- Liebherr, manufacturer of the crane that collapsed into the Grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, has concluded the crane was "technically faultless" and that the tip-over was due to operator error.
- The crane maker claims that, given the high winds at the time of the collapse, the boom should have been lowered to the ground to avoid the tipping of the crawler crane.
- The collapse killed 107 people and injured 238 others less than two weeks before the start of the Hajj, an annual pilgrimage that typically draws more than two million people to Mecca. The Saudi Binladin Group was the contractor overseeing construction at the Grand Mosque.
Dive Insight:
The nearly 1,500-ton crane collapsed after a strong sandstorm and thunderstorm with gusty winds hit Mecca.
According to crane experts investigating the collapse on behalf of Liebherr, Saudi crews erected the crane with a boom length of approximately 623 feet, and, as it was caught in the high winds of the storm, the crane "tilted over the last support rollers of its crawler tracks."
Liebherr added that the accident is a reminder of "the influences that wind has on cranes and to the unconditional compliance with the appropriate regulations mentioned in the operating instructions."
In the wake of the crane collapse, Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has ordered the contractor, The Saudi Binladin Group, to stop all construction work in the kingdom pending a full investigation into the collapse.
Mecca has pumped up construction across the city, and the Grand Mosque — the largest mosque in the world — has been undergoing a massive expansion to add 4.3 million square feet to the space in order to accommodate 2.2 million people in the mosque at once.
The Guardian said the crane collapse "exposed a shoddy breakneck construction boom" in Mecca.