The Riyadh bombings of May 12 coincided with another tragedy which took place in the holy city of Makkah. A fire in a Makkah hotel led to the deaths of several people, including young students from a Riyadh school who were on an Umrah visit.
There is no connection between the two incidents. The Makkah tragedy did not receive much coverage from our media which, perhaps understandably, allowed the international significance of the Riyadh bombings to overshadow domestic events.
The Makkah fire calls upon us once again to look into the behavior of some businessmen who have no respect for human life and who ignore their basic human responsibilities for the sake of profit.
Those responsible for the tragedy should be held accountable and brought to justice. We have had enough excuses and justifications whenever things like this happen. People who build hotels, furnished apartments, compounds, commercial centers or any other public facility should not be allowed to include safety precautions and standards as they like. Safety in public places is a legal and religious obligation and no license should be granted to any landlord who is guilty of compromising.
If a landlord chooses to ignore safety requirements in his private home, that may be his choice for himself and his family.
When it comes, however, to compromising people’s safety in hotels and other such places, there is no choice and failures must be met with the sternest action. Laws governing the construction of buildings must be respected and followed.
And there must be inspections to make sure that they are. A negligent person caused a major tragedy and the victims were pilgrims from abroad and young Saudi students who had come to Makkah to perform Umrah and offer prayers at the Grand Mosque.
Arab News From the Local Press 25 May 2003
