PHOTOS: 290 killed, injured by falling crane at Grand Mosque in Mecca
Pictures circulating on social media showed pilgrims in bloodied robes
(IraqiNews.com) Baghdad – The Civil Defense Authority in Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday the increasing of the death toll of the fall of a crane inside the Grand Mosque in Mecca to 107 deaths and 183 others injured, just two weeks before the start of the rites of Hajj.
Reuters quoted the Director General of the Civil Defense, Suleiman al-Amr as saying that “the death toll from the fall of the crane reached 107 death people, while the injured numbered 183 cases.”
Al-Amr added: “All injuries and deaths have been taken to hospitals. There are no casualties left at the area of the incident,” pointing out that “strong winds and rain uprooted trees and affected the cranes operating in the area.”
For its part, the Presidency of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque Affairs said in a statement: “severe storms, strong winds and heavy rain caused the fall of a part of one of the cranes. The latter smashed into a part of the Grand Mosque.”
Last year, Saudi authorities reduced the numbers permitted to make the hajj pilgrimage on safety grounds because of construction work to enlarge the Grand Mosque.
