“The collapsed building in Al-Sabeel district next to Kaki Mosque in Balad district was on the municipality’s watch list of dangerous and uninhabitable buildings,” said the chairman of the municipality’s committee in charge of old buildings Khaled Al-Zaini.

“The building consisted of two floors and was built with no construction licenses using only weak materials. “This building had warning posters on it and it was the owners’ responsibility to comply with the municipality’s request.” 

The municipality says the collapse, which resulted in the death of one Indian national, was due to a fire that started inside one of the building’s rooms. “The building was made of traditional mud bricks and wood, which caused the fire to spread much faster,” Al-Zaini said.

This is the second time so far the Jeddah municipality has held building owners responsible for the deaths of tenants.

Last May the owner of a building, which collapsed in Jeddah’s Al-Baghdadiyah district killing two women, was also held responsible as he constructed another floor without a license. The structure was also classed as uninhabitable.

The Jeddah municipality has classed 8,000 buildings across the city as unfit for living.

Al-Zaini’s committee had posted notices and warnings on more than 3,000 buildings in Jeddah in the past. “The municipality has asked Jeddah’s Civil Defense to disable the electricity in these uninhabitable buildings, something that is necessary to save human lives,” Al-Zaini said.

The committee overseeing uninhabitable buildings comprises officials from the Jeddah municipality, the Jeddah Traffic Department, Civil Defense, Saudi Electricity Company and the Social Affairs Department.