Annual hajj pilgrimage to take place later this month
Thomson Reuters Posted: Sep 11, 2015 1:15 PM ET Last Updated: Sep 11, 2015 2:43 PM ET
Saudia Arabia's civil defence authority says the number of people killed when a crane crashed into Mecca's Grand Mosque on Friday has risen to at least 87. The accident comes just weeks before the Muslim annual hajj pilgrimage.
The information came from the authority's head, speaking to Al Ikhbariya television
The civil defence said on its Twitter account 154 people were also injured in the accident. Al Arabiya television earlier said the crane had fallen because of strong storms. Western Saudi Arabia has been hit by strong sandstorms in the last few days.
Pictures circulating on social media showed pilgrims in bloodied robes and masses of debris from a part of the crane that seemed to have crashed through a ceiling.
Saudi authorities go to great lengths to be prepared for the millions of Muslims who converge on Mecca to perform the sacred pilgrimage.
Last year, the kingdom reduced the numbers permitted to perform hajj for safety reasons because of construction work to enlarge the Grand Mosque.
The pilgrimage, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, has been prone to disasters in the past, mainly from stampedes as pilgrims rushed to complete rituals and return home. Hundreds of pilgrims died in such a stampede in 2006.
Saudi authorities have since lavished vast sums to expand the main hajj sites and improve Mecca's transportation system, in an effort to prevent more disasters.
Security services often ring Islam's sacred city with checkpoints and other measures to prevent people arriving for the pilgrimage without authorization.
Those procedures, aimed at reducing crowd pressure which can lead to stampedes, fires and other hazards, have been intensified in recent years as security threats grow throughout the Middle East.