Crane collapse claims lives, injures hundreds at Mecca, Islam’s holy city

FIERCE winds are being blamed for toppling a massive crane onto Mecca’s Grand Mosque, killing 107 people, injuring 238. WARNING: Graphic content

TOPSHOTS Saudi emergency teams stand next to a construction crane after it crashed into the Grand Mosque of Saudi Arabia's holy Muslim city of Mecca on September 11, 2015. A massive construction crane crashed into the Grand Mosque in stormy weather, killing at least 87 people and injuring 184, Saudi authorities said, less than a fortnight before the hajj pilgrimage starts. AFP PHOTO / STR

FIERCE winds have been blamed for collapsing an enormous construction crane in Saudi Arabia’s Mecca, Islam’s holiest site, killing at least 107 people as it came crashing into the Grand Mosque.

The number of people wounded in the deadly smash, which occurred during a violent rainstorm just two weeks before the start annual hajj pilgrimage, has also spiralled to at least 238.

Director General Suleiman bin Abdullah al-Amro, who is chief of Saudi Arabia’s civil defence directorate, said unusually powerful winds had torn down trees and signs in the area before toppling the large crane.

Speaking with broadcaster Al-Arabiya, he denied reports that lightning brought down the red-and-white crane or that some of those killed died in a stampede.

لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله ...... pic.twitter.com/pznQWBUcyS

— Me (@MrAlsadoun) September 11, 2015

A Saudi official said this year’s hajj would proceed despite the tragedy.

“It definitely will not affect the hajj this season and the affected part will probably be fixed in a few days,” said the official, who declined to be named.

Abdel Aziz Naqoor, who said he works at the mosque, told AFP he saw the massive construction crane fall after being hit by the storm.

“If it weren’t for Al-Tawaf bridge the injuries and deaths would have been worse,” he said, referring to a covered walkway that surrounds the holy Kaaba, which broke the crane’s fall.

Disaster ... Emergency teams stand next to the construction crane after it crashed into the Grand Mosque.

Local journalist Kamal Idris said Saudis and foreigners lined up on Friday night to give blood in response to the disaster.

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.

Shocking scenes ... Wounded pilgrims sit on the floor after a crane collapse that killed dozens inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Picture: AP

Saudi Arabia’s civil defence authority provided a series of rising casualty numbers on its official Twitter account.

A photo posted online by the authority showed police and workers in hard hats inspecting a pile of collapsed concrete slabs inside a part of the sprawling, ornately decorated mosque.

Authorities did not provide details on the victims’ nationalities, but it was likely that the tragedy will touch several countries.

Construction site ... Saudi emergency teams stand next to a construction crane after it crashed into the Grand Mosque of Saudi Arabia's holy Muslim city of Mecca. Picture: AFP

The Grand Mosque — and the cube-shaped Kaaba within it — is ringed by several cranes engaged in ongoing construction work to expand the site.

Irfan al-Alawi, co-founder of the Mecca-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, suggested authorities were negligent by having a series of cranes overlooking the mosque.

“They do not care about the heritage, and they do not care about health and safety,” he said.

It draws Muslims of all types from around the world throughout the year, though numbers increase significantly in the run-up to the hajj.

Under fire ... A ring of cranes surrounds the Grand Mosque, where a project is udnerway to expand the site.

The mosque is Islam’s holiest site to which Muslims face in daily prayers and a central site among the hajj rituals.

Performing the pilgrimage once during one’s lifetime is a duty for all able-bodied Muslims.

Other Saudi officials could not immediately be reached or referred queries to the civil defence statements.

The crane, which was being used in construction work at the mosque, struck a circular area around the Kaaba and a nearby walkway.

Frantic scenes ... Pilgrims and first responders gather at the site of the crane collapse. Picture: AFP

Several cranes surround the mosque to support an ongoing expansion and other construction work that has transformed the area around the sanctuary. Steep hills and low-rise traditional buildings that once surrounded the mosque have in recent years given way to shopping malls and luxury hotels — among them the world’s third-tallest building.

Pan-satellite Al-Jazeera Television broadcast footage from inside the mosque compound said to be from the aftermath of the accident, showing the floor strewn with rubble and what appear to be pools of blood.

Another video, on a Twitter posting, captured the apparent moment of the crane’s collapse during a heavy rainstorm, with a loud boom, screams and confusion.

Grim sight ... Saudi governor of Mecca region Khaled al-Faisal inspects the site of the crane crash.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry expressed his condolences and said the U.S. stands with Saudi Arabia and “all Muslims around the world in the aftermath of this dreadful incident at one of Islam’s holiest sites.”

The millions of pilgrims who visit the country’s holy sites each year pose a considerable security and logistical challenge for the Saudi government, and large-scale deadly accidents have occurred on a number of occasions in years past.

In 2006, more than 360 pilgrims died in a stampede at the desert plain of Mina, near Mecca. A crush of pilgrims two years earlier left 244 dead.

The worst hajj-related tragedy was in 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims died in a stampede in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to holy sites in Mecca.