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At least 52 people were killed when a crane crashed in Mecca’s Grand Mosque on Friday, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence authority said on its Twitter account.It said 30 people were injured.
The Muslim annual Haj pilgrimage is due later this month and Saudi authorities go to great lengths to be prepared for the millions of Muslims who converge on Mecca.
— theguardian.com
In a report released a week after the incident, officials with Berkeley’s Building and Safety Division confirmed suspicions that dry rot had deteriorated the wood beams supporting the balcony. They also said they found no construction code violations. — latimes.com
It's been a week since the tragic balcony collapse occurred, and while the victims' families try to cope with the grief, experts have been searching frantically for the cause of the accident. Was the fault in the structural design? Is the contractor to blame for poor execution? Speculations... View full entry
Berkeley city officials have shut down access to public records regarding the construction of the apartment complex, which was completed in January 2007. Normally, they would be viewable upon request, but zoning office staff cited a pending police investigation and a request by the Berkeley city manager that the records not be made immediately available. — LA Times
The fifth-floor balcony collapsed early morning Tuesday, in the midst of a birthday celebration for one of the victims. At the time of collapse, there were reportedly thirteen people on the balcony; the seven who survived the fall now face life-threatening injuries. Of the six dead, five were... View full entry
The police in Bangladesh filed formal murder charges on Monday against 41 people accused of involvement in the 2013 collapse of a building that housed several clothing factories, leaving more than 1,100 people dead in the worst disaster in garment industry history. — The New York Times
More:How concrete floors can prevent child deaths in Bangladesh"The trauma of rebuilding": After Kathmandu's earthquake, what can architects do? We talk with a Nepalese architect on the ground for Archinect Sessions #27L.A. Mayor Calls for Mandatory Earthquake RetrofittingChina Quake Renews... View full entry
Architecture students at the University of Texas at San Antonio will have to go back to the drawing board in order to reconstruct their fallen class project in Travis Park.
Weather conditions and probably someone climbing on the sculpture, called “F2,” factored into the collapse of part of the structure Saturday night.
The 15-foot-tall, 40-foot-wide dome made of interlaced wood topped with white spikes has only been in the park since late May [...].
— mysanantonio.com
A $700,000 home was teetering over the edge of Texas' Lake Whitney — until officials set it on fire.
The home, which had been gradually crumbling into the lake for weeks, was set on fire shortly after 10 a.m. local time after authorities deemed it the safest and cheapest option. Officials had considered pulling the home closer to land using a giant net — deemed unsafe — or letting it fall into the lake on its own — too expensive to clean up.
— mashable.com
The collapse of a five-story building in the city of Fenghua trapped at least six people, one of whom has died so far, according to state media (in Chinese). The apartment building was built in 1994—part of a nationwide boom in the 1980s and ‘90s that packed the Chinese real estate market with substandard, shoddily built buildings. Authorities are warning that the poor quality of buildings from the those decades could represent huge dangers in coming years. — qz.com
Seventy-six people were injured when part of the roof came down during a performance of The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time in December.
BBC Radio 4's You and Yours has seen a letter from Westminster City Council saying hessian wadding embedded in the ceiling was getting weaker over time.
The material's deterioration led to the collapse, the council said.
— bbc.com
Previously: London theatre collapse: scores injured at Apollo in West End View full entry
More than 81 people have been injured, seven seriously, when part of a theatre in London's West End collapsed onto a packed audience during a performance.
Fire crews had to rescue people from the Apollo theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, which was showing a performance of the hit show The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time.
— theguardian.com
UPDATE: Apollo theatre collapse due to 'old' materials View full entry
Brazil's World Cup preparations suffered a deadly setback on Wednesday when a roof collapsed killing at least two building workers at the São Paulo stadium that is due to host the opening match.
Coming a week before the draw for next year's tournament, the fatalities revive concerns about unsafe infrastructure and the slow pace of construction, which have dogged the hosts for more than a year.
— theguardian.com
A five-storey apartment block collapsed on Friday in the Indian financial centre of Mumbai, killing at least four people and trapping scores in the latest accident to underscore shoddy building standards in Asia's third-largest economy. — reuters.com
It's one of largest and most popular covered markets in the world -- but now management claims vendors have weakened the structure of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar to the point it may collapse. Merchants view the situation differently. — spiegel.de
As many as 10 people are believed to be trapped in the rubble of a building that collapsed Wednesday morning in Philadelphia, city Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said, according to CNN affiliate WPVI.
The building collapsed at the corner of 22nd and Market streets in Philadelphia's Center City area, WPVI reported.
— cnn.com
The moment whereby a burning crane which caught fire on a construction site snapped and fell on top of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) building on Broadway in inner Sydney this morning has been caught on tape.
A video, which was filmed by a passer-by and supplied to Channel Nine, shows the upper portion of the crane above the main boom tip collapsing onto the building rooftop.
— DesignBuild Source
According to police, the famed boardwalk's north end is collapsing.This is happening while wave heights 100 miles off the coast of New Jersey are likely to hit 30 feet or more. — newjerseynewsroom.com
