At least 107 killed by falling crane at Mecca’s Grand Mosque

A towering construction crane collapsed on Friday during a violent rainstorm in Saudi Arabia’s city of Mecca, Islam’s holiest site, crashing into the Grand Mosque and killing at least 107 people ahead of the start of the annual hajj pilgrimage later this month. Videos and photos posted by social media users showed a grisly scene, with police and onlookers attending to bloodied bodies on the polished mosque floors.

All those who were wounded and the dead have been taken to hospital. There are no casualties left at the location.

General Suleiman al-Amr, director general of the Civil Defence Authority

Saudi Arabia’s civil defense authority provided a series of rising casualty numbers on its official Twitter account. As of late Friday, it said those injured in the disaster numbered 184. Saudi authorities go to great lengths to prepare for the millions of Muslims who converge on Mecca to perform the sacred pilgrimage. Last year, they reduced the numbers permitted to perform hajj on safety grounds because of construction work to enlarge the Grand Mosque.

Middle East Mecca