CAIRO: A Saudi court on Thursday dropped its case against 13 defendants who were on trial over a crane collapse in Mecca in September 2015 that killed 111 pilgrims.
The Mecca Criminal Court said in its ruling that it has no jurisdiction to rule on the case, which opened last August. Fourteen people had initially gone on trial, accused of negligence, damaging public property and ignoring safety guidelines.
The court did not mention the discrepancy in the number of defendants, and it was unclear if the ruling was the final chapter of litigation in the matter.
State-linked newspapers had said six Saudis, including a billionaire, two Pakistanis, a Canadian, a Jordanian, a Palestinian, an Egyptian, an Emirati and a Filipino had gone on trial. The defendants' names were not made public.
Amid unusually strong winds, the 1,350-ton crane collapsed onto the Grand Mosque that houses Islam's holiest site, the cube-shaped Kaaba, bringing down slabs of concrete on worshippers below.
After the crane incident, King Salman partly blamed the construction giant, saying the crane's arm should not have been left up when it was not in use.
Victims and families of victims could not be immediately reached for comment on the ruling.
The Mecca Criminal Court said in its ruling that it has no jurisdiction to rule on the case, which opened last August. Fourteen people had initially gone on trial, accused of negligence, damaging public property and ignoring safety guidelines.
The court did not mention the discrepancy in the number of defendants, and it was unclear if the ruling was the final chapter of litigation in the matter.
State-linked newspapers had said six Saudis, including a billionaire, two Pakistanis, a Canadian, a Jordanian, a Palestinian, an Egyptian, an Emirati and a Filipino had gone on trial. The defendants' names were not made public.
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Amid unusually strong winds, the 1,350-ton crane collapsed onto the Grand Mosque that houses Islam's holiest site, the cube-shaped Kaaba, bringing down slabs of concrete on worshippers below.
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After the crane incident, King Salman partly blamed the construction giant, saying the crane's arm should not have been left up when it was not in use.
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Victims and families of victims could not be immediately reached for comment on the ruling.
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