Mumbai 11th Sep 2015(Sana Sayed): The huge red crane crashed into a part of the
Grand Mosque - the largest in the world - that was filled with worshipers at
the time.
The head of Saudi Arabia's civil defense said strong
winds and heavy rains had caused the collapse.
Mecca is currently preparing for the annual Muslim Hajj
pilgrimage.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to arrive in
the Saudi city from all over the world later this month.
The collapse happened at 17:23 local time (14:23 GMT),
said Director-General of the Saudi Civil Defense Authority, Lt Sulayman
Bin-Abdullah al-Amr.
It happened at a time when many worshippers were there
for Friday prayers.
The toll for the dead and injured,
tweeted by the Civil Defence Authority (in Arabic), continued to rise
throughout the evening.
Shortly before the crash, the city had been hit by
unusually high levels of rainfall and winds of up to 83kph (50mph), Lt Amr
said.
A video posted on YouTube, which could not be
independently verified, appeared to record the moment the crane fell, with a
loud crash heard in the background followed by panic and shouting.
Images circulating on Twitter showed what looked like
numerous bodies and blood on the floor of the mosque.
Lt Amr said an investigation was being carried out to
assess the damage, and the "extent of the safety of these sites".
Mecca is preparing to welcome Muslims from around the
world for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which begins in about 10 days' time.
Islam requires that every Muslim capable of doing so
performs a pilgrimage to the site at least once in their lifetime.
Saudi authorities began a major expansion of the site
last year to increase the area of the mosque by 400,000 square metres (4.3
million square feet), to allow it to accommodate up to 2.2 million people at
once.
