Grand Mosque in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, the Saudi Arabian
government has said.
Over 80 persons were injured in the accident, the country's civil
defence authority said on Twitter.
Mecca is currently preparing for the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage.is
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to arrive in the Saudi
city from all over the world later this month.
Reports suggested that the crane fell on the East side of the mosque
following high winds and rain. The Arabian peninsula has been hit by
strong sand storms over the past week.
A video posted on YouTube, which could not be independently verified,
appeared to record the moment the crane fell, with a loud crash heard
in the background followed by panic and shouting.
The 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 the area of the mosque by 400,000 square metres (4.3 million
square feet), to allow it to accommodate up to 2.2 million people at
once.
More than three million people undertook the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca
in 2012. Saudi authorities have taken steps in 2013 to limit the
number of people involved. 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. Once at the
mosque, pilgrims perform "tawaf" – walking seven times around the
Kaaba in a counter-clockwise direction.
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