The huge windstorm and the rain that came along with it were the reason it collapsed sadly.
A huge crane like that is a huge sail exposed to the wind.
You cannot tell me that they did not know about the weather that was coming their way
and if the contractor had lowered the boom and swung it away from the mosque roof
the boom failure would not have happened.
It was a huge waste of human life that did not have to happen.
We will probabaly be blamed for it by some extremists in Saudi Arabia and other parts of the middle
and near east claiming it was a plot by the infidels to destroy Mecca before and during the Haj.
Its a terrible shame and now we all have to live with the mistakes made by the contractor.
It makes me wonder if they even had a weather station mounted on a tower to monitor
the local winds. If they had they woul have been able to lower it in time I think.