Hajj: 107 die in crane collapse in Mecca

A massive construction crane crashed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque in stormy weather on Friday,killing not less than 107 people leaving 238 injured.

  The civil defence agency said on Twitter that emergency teams were sent to the scene after a “crane fell at the Grand Mosque,” one of Islam’s most revered sites, That came about an hour after it tweeted that Mecca was “witnessing medium to heavy rains,” and pictures on social media showed lightning.
 Abdel Aziz Naqoor, who works at the mosque, said he saw the crane fall after being hit by the storm.
  ''If it weren’t for Al-Tawaf bridge the injuries and deaths would have been worse,''he said, referring to a covered walkway that surrounds the holy Kaaba and broke the crane’s fall.
    A video on YouTube showed people screaming and rushing around right after a massive crash was heard and as fog engulfed the city.
 Irfan al-Alawi, co-founder of the Mecca-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, compared the carnage to that caused by a bomb.
  He suggested authorities were negligent by having a series of cranes overlooking the mosque,hey do not care about the heritage, and they do not care about health and safety,” he told AFP.
Alawi is an outspoken critic of redevelopment at the holy sites, which he says is wiping away tangible links to the Prophet Mohammed.