A towering construction crane toppled over on
Friday during a violent rain storm in the Saudi 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.
Saudi Arabia’s civil
defense authority provided a series of rising casualty numbers on its
official Twitter account as ambulances rushed the injured to area
hospitals. As of early Saturday, it said those injured in accident
numbered 238.
A photo released by the authority showed police and
workers in hardhats inspecting a pile of collapsed concrete slabs
inside a part of the sprawling, ornately decorated mosque. Another
showed the base of the toppled red-and-white crane tilted upward at a
sharp angle.
Images aired on Saudi state television showed the crane’s metal boom smashed through what appeared to be the roof of the mosque.
Ahmed
bin Mohammed Al-Mansouri, the spokesman for the presidency of the Mecca
and Medina mosque affairs, said in a statement carried by the official
Saudi Press Agency that the accident happened late Friday afternoon
during a severe storm carrying strong winds and heavy rain.
Authorities
did not provide details on the victims’ nationalities, but it is likely that the tragedy will have grieved the family of several countries.
The Grand
Mosque and the cube-shaped Kaaba within it draw Muslims of all types
from around the world throughout the year, though numbers increase
significantly in the run-up to the hajj. 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 adult Muslims. This year’s
pilgrimage is expected to start around Sept. 22.
Al-Mansouri said
the crane, which was being used in construction work at the mosque,
struck a circular area around the Kaaba and a nearby walkway.
Another
video, on a Twitter posting, captured the apparent moment of the
red-and-white crane’s collapse during a heavy rainstorm, with a loud
boom, screams and confusion.
The governor of the Mecca
region, Prince Khalid AL-Faisal, quickly called for the formation of a
committee to investigate the cause of the accident. He directed all
appropriate authorities to provide support for all of those injured,
according to a statement from Mecca principality public affairs head
Sultan AL-Dosari that was carried on SPA.
Other Saudi officials could not immediately be reached or referred queries to the civil defense statements.
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, a giant clock
tower that is the centerpiece of the Abraj al-Bait complex.
The construction giant Saudi Binladin Group is leading the mosque expansion and also built the Abraj al-Bait project.
The
Binladin family has been close to the ruling Al Saud family for decades
and oversees major building projects around the country. The Binladen
family disowned one of its many members, late al-Qaida leader Osama bin
Laden, in the 1990s.
It was not immediately clear who owned the crane that collapsed.
During
the week of the hajj, Muslims converge on Mecca to perform a series of
rituals, including the circling of the cube-shaped Kaaba, praying and
holding vigil at Mount Arafat and perform the symbolic stoning of the
devil by throwing pebbles at the three pillars in Mina.
Prayers
on and around the mount are a climactic emotional and spiritual moment
in the hajj. The faithful believe that on that day the gates of heaven
are open, prayers are answered and past sins are forgiven.
