Saudi Arabia crane tragedy: Death toll now 107

The death toll in Saudi Arabia crane collapse is now 107 while the number of the injured stands at 230.

The authority has commenced investigation into the disaster, which occurred in Mecca on Friday.

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.

Read also: 65 dead as crane collapses in Saudi Arabia

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.

Mecca is currently preparing for the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage.

Thousands of people are expected to arrive in the Saudi city from all over the world later this month.

Lt Amr said the city had been hit by unusually high levels of rainfall and winds of up to 83kph (50mph) shortly before the crane came crashing down.

Videos posted online showed the moment the structure collapsed, with a loud crash followed by panic and shouting.

Bodies and blood could be seen 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”.

Irfan Al-Alawi, from the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, told the BBC that the Grand Mosque is currently surrounded by 15 large cranes amid major redevelopment work.

“The entire area is like a salvage yard,” Mr Al-Alawi said.

“Saudi Arabia has to re-think its health and safety strategy,” he said, “as there were 800,000 people in the mosque area at the time of the accident.”

Mecca is preparing to welcome about two million Muslims from around the world for the Hajj, which begins in about 10 days’ time.

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