Ahlul Bayt News Agency -ABNA- Following Mecca terrible crane accident, which claimed the lives of dozens Muslims as they prepared for the hajj pilgrimage, media have been rife with allegations. While the majority have blamed the tragedy on Saudi negligence, alleging poor organization rather than criminal intentions, other sources have said the hands of terror could lie behind the deaths.
Asr-e Iran, Iranian News website investigated the matter and wrote: "Mecca weather recorded data show that wind speed in the city never went over 22 Kph on September 11 - the time of incident."
"The crane crash happened in Mecca at 5:10 pm on September 11. It led to the killing and injuring of more than 300 people. Saudi media immediately pinned the accident on the weather, arguing bad conditions prompted the crane collapse. For example Al Arabiya alleged that wind speed at the time of the accident stood at 65 kph", Asr-e Iran added on its report.
Commenting on the matter, Doctor Mansour al-Mazroui, Head of Climate Change at the Research Center at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) emphasized that wind speed stood in between 40 and 55 Kph, and thus labeled the incident as a freak weather phenomenon.
But is that really what happened? Can weather be really at the root-cause of Mecca crane collapse? Interestingly data gathered at the time of the accident via several independent course clearly show no recollection of any storm or weather anomaly - pilgrims at the time were in no way hindered by the weather.
Following are important points to consider:
According to reports wind direction was pointing Northwest while the crane collapsed pointing southwest - thus it fell opposite the wind.
The crane fell behind Maqam Ibrahim, a place which is well known for being crowded with pilgrims, especially around hajj.
Also, if we check the standard position of the crane and compare it with the position that it had after the incident, one can clearly notice that the crane base controller has been separated from the main body structure.
The accident took place on September 11, an ominous date which rhymes with terror the world over.
In the light of such revelations can we still consider Mecca accident as such or could it be that we have missed the hands of radicals behind such horrific tragedy?
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