Muhammad Abu Zaid, spokesman of the Saudi Railway Organization, said the train's supervisor had not applied brakes to prevent the train from moving.
The committee partly blamed the train's driver for leaving the engine on without taking any measures to prevent it from moving forward and not informing the supervisor, even though he had attended operation and safety courses.
The committee also pointed out that there was a communication problem and that the contractor had not met safety requirements to protect his workers. “The committee has referred the results of the investigation to the legal panel to determine the responsibility of each party involved in the accident and the punishment they deserve. It also made its recommendations to prevent a recurrence of such accidents in the future,” Abu Zaid said.
Four Nepalese nationals and an Indian died in the accident, which occurred when workers were re-laying part of a railroad.
Two rail cars carrying white stones rolled down, hitting the workers and killing five of them instantly. The accident happened while the driver was shunting the train at a location called Kilo 407, about 25 km east of Riyadh.
