SAUDI Arabian authorities have put the death toll from yesterday's crane collapse at Mecca's Grand Mosque at 87 with about 180 people injured although the identities and nationalities of the victims are yet to be revealed.
According to the Saudi civil defence authority a huge red crane crashed through the mosque's roof yesterday while maintenance works were being carried out during this year's hajj pilgrimage. Hundreds of thousands of people have begun arriving in Saudi Arabia from all over the world for the hajj and they are due to visit Mecca later this month.
Reports suggested the crane fell on the east side of the mosque following high winds and rain as the Arabian peninsula has been has been hit by strong sand storms over the past week. Images circulating on social media appeared to show numerous bodies and blood on the floor of the mosque.
Mecca's Grand Mosque is the largest in the world and the destination for millions of Muslims undertaking the hajj pilgrimage every year. Saudi authorities began a major expansion of the site last year to increase its area by 400,000 square metres, to allow it to accommodate up to 2.2m people at once.
More than 3m people undertook the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in 2012 and Saudi authorities took steps in 2013 to limit the numbers. Large numbers of people have resulted in several tragedies over the years, including a stampede in 2006 that killed nearly 350 people.
At the heart of the Grand Mosque is the Kaaba, Islam's most sacred site, a black cube-shaped building which Muslims all over the world face when they pray. Islam requires that every Muslim capable of doing so performs a pilgrimage to the site at least once in their lifetime and once at the mosque, pilgrims perform tawaf, walking around the Kaaba seven times in a counter-clockwise direction.
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