The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has released compensation for victims of the 2015 crane crash that occurred in Makkah, Saudi Arabia.
This was disclosed by Nigeria’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Justice Muhammad Isa Dodo (rtd) during a meeting with the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) in Jeddah at the weekend
The meeting was preparatory to the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the 2020 hajj.
It would be recalled that on 11th September 2015, a crawler crane collapsed during a thunderstorm at the Kaaba Grand Mosque in Makkah claiming many lives and injuring others. Nigeria lost six pilgrims from Gombe, Kaduna and Katsina states to the crash and three others sustained injuries with King Salman of Saudi Arabia pledging to pay compensation to the victims.
The commission and Nigerian Missions in Saudi Arabia, in line with the directives of President Muhammadu Buhari, had regularly followed up on the pledge of the King, which was eventually redeemed.
The compensations for five among the deceased and two seriously injured pilgrims were released to the Nigerian Embassy in Riyadh which has forwarded same for handing over to the families of the victims. The commission will coordinate payment of the compensation in accordance with provisions of the law.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Zubairu Dada, during a ministerial meeting with the Saudi Minister of Hajj and Umrah, Dr Muhammad Bn Saleh Benten, thanked the Kingdom for the release.
