3 Nigerians injured in Mecca tragedy

Three Nigerians pilgrims were among the injured in the heavy-duty crane collapse in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia on Friday.

They, however, sustained minor injuries when the crane crashed in the Grand Mosque.

Chairman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON), Abdullahi Mukhtar, said the victims were responding to treatments in the holy land.

Mukhtar, who did not name the victims, however, said that two were from Kaduna and one from Gombe.

He stated that the incident would not affect this year’s pilgrimage in any way.

The death toll in the Mecca crane collapse was 107 as at Saturday while the number of the injured was 230.

Meanwhile the authority in the country has commenced investigation into the disaster.

The huge red crane crashed into a part of the Grand Mosque – which was filled with worshippers at the time.

The collapse happened at 17:23 local time (14:23 GMT) on Friday.

The head of Saudi Arabia’s civil defence agency, Lt Sulayman Bin-Abdullah al-Amr, said strong winds and heavy rains caused the crane to fall.

Read also: Saudi Arabia crane tragedy: Death toll now 107

He said an investigation was being carried out to assess the damage, and the “extent of the safety of these sites”.

“On the commission’s part, we have advised the various states pilgrims’ board not to allow their pilgrims to go close to the Grand Mosque for now.

“They have adhered strictly to our directive and it is yielding positive results,’’ he added.

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