Crane Collapses Into the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia

[ddt]

Is the crane okay?

What kind of crane was it? A red-crested crane? A Sandhill crane? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Craig B]

At least some portion of the Islamic world is already blaming Israel, I'm sure.

See if you can find it on the Internet.

 

[swright777]

At once, no. Per year, yes. The rate in the last few years has been between 1 and 2 million per year.

From the linked BBC article:

Saudi authorities began a major expansion of the site last year to increase the area of the mosque by 400,000 square metres (4.3 million square feet), to allow it to accommodate up to 2.2 million people at once.

 

[Jrrarglblarg]

What kind of crane was it? A red-crested crane? A Sandhill crane? Inquiring minds want to know.

You know those goats that faint when they get startled? It was one of those, but a crane.


This incident makes me wonder what the economic value of the Hajj is to Saudi Arabia. Religious or not that's a lot of tourism coming in.

 

[Belz...]

From the linked BBC article:

That's pretty insane. I wonder what it'll look like then.

 

[quadraginta]

What kind of crane was it? A red-crested crane? A Sandhill crane? Inquiring minds want to know.

Joking aside, I'd like to know, too. As a professional interest. I've been around a tower rig when it fell, and would have 30 feet up on a scaffold that it fell through if it had fallen fifteen minutes later than it did.

I hadn't looked really closely at the footage I've seen on TV, and assumed from the brief images I saw that it was a standard fixed jib tower rig.

But on a BBC report I heard on the radio they said authorities were going after the builder for improperly failing to lower the jib before the storm, which would mean it had a luffing jib.

In an odd sort of inversion, the one I was nearly hit by failed because the jib was improperly raised.

 

[Delvo]

At once, no. Per year, yes. The rate in the last few years has been between 1 and 2 million per year.

From the linked BBC article:

...to allow it to accommodate up to 2.2 million people at once.

Well, I've found out some stuff about this. At first I figured that the BBC writer must have just misspoken because that's about the normal number for a whole year. Then I found that most pilgrims do it during the same 5-6 days of the year, so I was thinking of dividing the annual number by that amount to see how many would be there per day or per hour. Then I read here that they don't just go around the rock several times and be done, but follow a procedure that lasts for several days with specific activities on certain days. So the part that actually involves going around the rock gets concentrated not just within the 5-6 day period but at certain points within that period.

 

[Oystein]

They were lucky this didn't occur during the Hajj. The main five days of rituals start on September 21 this year.

Yesterday I saw an aerial image on TV of a huge tent city near Mecca that can host up to 3 million (!?) guests; a facility that is used only during the few weeks around the Hajj and stays mostly empty the rest of the year. (Context was the question why Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states refuse to host Syrian and Iraqi refugees - SA apparently has massive capacities.)

 

[Travis]

Saudi Arabia also doesn't seem to want Palestinians.

Interestingly they Hajj means that for a week or so the airport at Jeddah becomes the biggest in the world. To accommodate this they have a massive airport terminal facility that is also basically a giant tent. They also built a metro system that conveys people from said airport to the various spots on the Hajj ritual. To help bring in more people via other means Saudi Arabia is building a massive high speed train project.

 

[BenBurch]

They were lucky this didn't occur during the Hajj. The main five days of rituals start on September 21 this year.

Yesterday I saw an aerial image on TV of a huge tent city near Mecca that can host up to 3 million (!?) guests; a facility that is used only during the few weeks around the Hajj and stays mostly empty the rest of the year. (Context was the question why Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf states refuse to host Syrian and Iraqi refugees - SA apparently has massive capacities.)

Slightly off topic; Do the Saudis consider Syrians to be members of their ethnic group? Not data I have ever noted and I am wondering if anybody knows?

 

[BenBurch]

Saudi Arabia also doesn't seem to want Palestinians.

Interestingly they Hajj means that for a week or so the airport at Jeddah becomes the biggest in the world. To accommodate this they have a massive airport terminal facility that is also basically a giant tent. They also built a metro system that conveys people from said airport to the various spots on the Hajj ritual. To help bring in more people via other means Saudi Arabia is building a massive high speed train project.

That sounds like the place the Z-virus would start doesn't it? One carrier goes in and three million potentially-infected fly out a few days later.

 

[Travis]

If I were to spread a virus that would be a prime target for exactly that reason. The Olympics would be another great venue.