Saudi’s United Cooperative Assurance Gets Claim from Mecca Crane Collapse

Saudi Arabia’s United Cooperative Assurance said on Sunday it had received a claim from Saudi Binladin Group over the collapse of one of the construction firm’s cranes this month at the Grand Mosque in Mecca that killed more than 100 people.

The insurance firm said it had received the claim on Sept. 13 and it had appointed evaluators licensed by the country’s banking regulator to determine the damage caused by the accident, a bourse filing said.

At least 107 people were killed when a crane toppled over at Mecca’s Grand Mosque on Sept. 11, leading Saudi Arabia to suspend Binladin from new contracts and order a review of existing projects.

United Cooperative Assurance said it would announce any developments in due course and the estimated value and financial impact of the incident would appear in fourth-quarter financial statements.

However, the firm added its coverage related to the client was more than 98 percent covered by reinsurers.

(Reporting by Hadeel Al Sayegh; editing by David French and Mark Potter)