PANIC-STRICKEN: A family outside the Kingdom Tower after the evacuation on Wednesday. (AN photo by Khaled Al-Khamis)
RIYADH: Police are investigating a bomb hoax that triggered the evacuation of Kingdom Tower, the capital city’s landmark skyscraper, on Wednesday evening.
“Nothing suspicious was found and the Kingdom Tower was reopened after a brief search,” said Mansour Al-Turki, Ministry of Interior spokesman. “We confirm that this was a hoax. The building and sites immediately close to it were evacuated as a precautionary measure.”
Witnesses said they saw security personnel rushing into the building after civilians had been asked to leave. Armed security men were also seen outside the tower.
Lt. Col. Sami bin Muhammad Al-Shuwairekh, spokesman for Riyadh police, said a Samba Financial Group employee inside the tower had received a call from an anonymous person that his car in the parking area of the tower would explode within an hour.
“Security agencies and weapons and explosives experts ... rushed to the area and found it was a false alert,” he said. “The incident caused big rush in the area and traffic in nearby residential districts partially stopped,” he added.
Officers are currently investigating the source of the hoax. An employee working in one of the offices at the Kingdom Tower said the tower houses several offices, restaurants and a mall besides the 249-room Four Seasons Hotel. He said that the hotel's occupancy was about 60 percent at the time of the incident. Most of the guests were not at the hotel at that time as it was business hours, he added.
Senior executives of Four Seasons Hotel and Samba officials were unavailable for comment. Many people were inside the building because Wednesday was the end of the working week. The building’s shopping mall and restaurants were crowded.
The Civil Defense said they had received 50 hoax calls in Riyadh in 2008. Riyadh province held the fourth position in the number of hoax calls after Makkah (468), Madinah (128) and the Eastern Province (102).
Kingdom Tower, also known as Burj Al-Mamlaka is the 45th tallest building in the world. It houses the second highest mosque in the world after the one in Burj Khalifa.
The tower has 99 floors excluding the four basement levels. It is also the headquarters of the Kingdom Holding Company.
The 100-meter long skybridge atop the tower, at a height of 297 meters, contains a public observation deck that gives a view of the entire city.
— With input from Muhammad Humaidan
