87 killed when crane crashes through roof of Mecca’s Grand Mosque

BEIRUT At least 87 people were killed Friday when a crane collapsed onto Mecca’s Grand Mosque during a storm.

Saudi Civil Defense reported continually rising casualty figures as it conducted a rescue operation at the world’s largest mosque the Masjid al-Haram in Arabic which surrounds the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest site.

The agency said on Twitter that 184 people were injured.

Authorities said gusty wind accompanied with heavy rain caused the crane to fall. The area in western Saudi Arabia has been hit by strong sand storms in recent days.

Photographs on Saudi websites showed debris from the fallen crane, which crashed through the ceiling of the mosque, as well as people carrying bloodied bodies.

New pictures aired by Arab broadcasters from inside the mosque showed pools of blood covering the area.

According to Saudi state television the Grand Mosque is usually crowded on Friday, which is a weekend in the Kingdom.

The broadcaster said that a huge project was under construction to increase the area by 400,000 square meters to expand the haj pilgrimage sites and to prevent accidents like stampedes.

In 2006 a stampede during the Haj pilgrimage season killed nearly 350 people.

The Saudi Press Agency said that the health department in Mecca was on high alert.

“All hospitals in the city has been put on high state of alert and were enhanced by blood units to be able to cope with the high number of wounded,” Abdel al-Wahab Shalabi, spokesman of the health department in Mecca was quoted as saying by SPA.

There were no immediate reports on the nationalities of people killed and injured.

The accident happened as the Saudi city was preparing to receive more than 1 million Muslims from all over the world this month for the annual haj pilgrimage. The haj is to begin Sept. 21.

In July, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia slashed the quota for Haj season by 20 per cent. Muslims are expected to perform the Mecca pilgrimage at least once during their lifetimes.

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