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At least 107 people were killed and more than 233 injured when a crane crashed through the ceiling of the Grand Mosque of Mecca amid high winds and thunderstorms today.
Dramatic footage shows the moment the crane toppled in heavy rain, with another video capturing the chaos and confusion inside the building as people run for cover after the impact. Crane part of massive project to increase the area of the mosque so it can accommodate 2.2million people at once
Photos posted on social media shows the polished tiled floor of the mosque covered in rubble, bodies and pools of blood, and people fleeing the area bleeding and covered in soot.
The Grand Mosque, or Great Mosque of Mecca, surrounds Islam’s holiest place, the Kaaba, in the city of Mecca.
The mosque is usually at its most crowded on Fridays as it is the Muslim weekly day of prayer, when Muslims face in the direction of the Kaaba while performing their obligatory daily prayers.
One of the five pillars of Islam requires every Muslim to perform the Hajj pilgrimage at least once in their lifetime.
Muslim faithful from about 160 countries converge on the Islamic city and other locations in western Saudi Arabia to complete the holy journey.
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.
The tragic incident in Saudi Arabia occurred shortly before the 6:30pm Friday evening prayer session – one of the busiest times of the week – causing devastation to what is the largest mosque in the world.
PREVIOUS MECCA TRAGEDIES
1987: 402 people killed and almost 650 wounded in clashes between Iranian pilgrims and Saudi authorites
1989: Two bombs kill one pilgrim and injure 16 others.
1990: 1,426 pilgrims killed in a stampede in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel
1994: 270 pilgrims killed during a stampede at a stoning ritual
1997: More than 340 people killed and 1,500 injured when fire rips through a tented city
1998: 180 pilgrims trampled to death after several people fell off an overpass
2001: 35 people killed in a stampede
2004: Approximately 250 people were killed during a stampede at a stoning ceremony
2006: At least 350 pilgrims killed following a stampede at a stoning ceremony
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3231117/At-62-people-dead-crane-collapses-Grand-Mosque-Mecca.html#ixzz3lTFDkuWQ
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