SR33m: Blood money estimate by experts

JEDDAH: Insurance firms may have to pay out about SR33 million in blood money to the families of the 111 people who died in Friday’s crane collapse at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, say experts.
This amounts to about SR300,000 per person, which is the mandatory coverage that all contractors working on government projects have to take out once they win a government tender, the experts were quoted as saying in a local publication.
Saudi regulations stipulate that contractors must take out insurance policies that cover every aspect of a project, including equipment and human lives, and encompassing human error and natural disasters.
Several experts were quoted as saying that the tragedy appeared to be the result of a natural disaster as the crane was seemingly blown over by gale-force winds.
Any losses resulting from a crane falling over and causing injury or loss of life has to be covered in the mandatory insurance policy required for all government projects, said Adham Jad, an insurance expert.
Jad said that it appeared that this was a natural disaster, which would be fully covered by the insurance policy of the contractor.