Saudi Arabia Investigates Crane Collapse

As Muslims over the world mourns the death of at least 107 people as a result of a collapsed crane toppled over at Mecca's Grand Mosque, less than two weeks before Islam's annual Hajj pilgrimage.

In addition to the deaths, 238 people were wounded in the disaster which was caused by strong wind and heavy rain.

According to report, the Grand Mosque is currently surrounded by 15 large cranes as it is undergoing major redevelopment work.

The Grand Mosque, known as the Masjid al-Haram, is the largest mosque in the world and surrounds Islam's holiest place, the Kaaba.

The original parts of the Grand Mosque date back 1,400 years. Consisting of a large square surrounded by covered prayer areas, the building has since been extensively modernised, notably from the mid-20th Century.

The expansion of the site started last year to increase the area of the mosque by about 400,000 square metres, as to accommodate over 2 million people.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has begun an investigation into why the crane collapsed. This will help to prevent further occurrence of such incidence.

The head of Saudi Arabia's civil defence agency, Lt Sulayman Bin-Abdullah al-Amr, said an investigation was being carried out to assess the damage, and the "extent of the safety of these sites".

Comments

BUHARI: TURNING APPOINTMENTS INTO DISAPPOINTMENTS

By Jaafar Jaafar Ponder over this Hausa proverb: “sawun keke ba’a gane gabanka”, which roughly translates to “a bicycle’s contact patch does not tell where it comes from or where it heads to”, and see how it aptly describes Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari. Bearing in mind the current realities in our polity, how would you, in your wildest dream, think the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will come from the North? The very North that has a President, a Senate President, a Speaker, a Head of Service, a Chief of Staff, a Chief Justice, and what not? While Mr. President is likened to the proverbial “sawun keke”, the pigmentation of his appointments may be likened to “birgimar hankaka”, literally meaning the wallow of a pied crow. When a pied crow wallows, the Hausa say, you will see both the white patch on its gullet and the black plumage that covers most of the bird’s body. In the appointment of the GMD of NNPC, President Buhari showed Nigeria...

DSS Arrest Over 15 Key Boko Haram Members Across Nigeria - Tony Opuiyo

No fewer than 15 key members of the boko haram sect were arrested across Nigeria by the operatives of the DSS. According to a statement by a DSS official, Tony Opuiyo, said the infiltration of the terrorists into other states was a fallout of the pressure being put on the terrorists in their core areas of strength in the North-east. The statement by the DSS ; In line with the Department of State Services’, DSS, re-strategised Counter Terrorism measures to combat the menace of the Boko Haram insurgency in Nigeria, the Service has continued to make significant breakthroughs in this direction. This followed the rounding up of notable commanders and frontline members of the notorious group from different parts of the country. It should be noted that the group’s new pattern of movement and spread is necessitated by the pressure being put on them in their core areas of strength in the North East. 2. Consequently, a number of them have been arrested in Lagos, Kano, Pla...

Okro Soup Issues By Sonala Olumhense

Once upon another life, I was attending a literature conference at the University of Calabar when a friend of mine took interest in one of the students. He thought his best chance was through the front door: ask her out. But a friend of hers thought differently, and she asked me share this wisdom with my friend: “If you want to eat Okro soup,” she counseled, “you don’t go diving into the middle!” I advised my friend accordingly. He thought about it for a while. “They have Okro soup politics here?” he asked me. “So exactly how do they eat Okro soup?” I told him what I was told: “First, you eat around the plate!” He didn’t take too kindly to the advice, as he mumbled some indistinct philosophy about desiring to meet Okro with hunger, or something like that. It did not occur to me at the time to question my interlocutor as to whether the approach to eating Ogbono, Nigeria’s pre-eminent soup that is similar to Okro, was different under that same wor...

Extra Reporters

Search This Blog