Eighty Seven Killed And 183 Injured As Crane Collapses in Mecca Grand Mosque

 Saudi Arabia's civil defence authority says at least 87 people have been killed and 183 others injured after a crane collapsed in Mecca's Grand Mosque on Friday.

Aljazeera gathered that the crane fell on the third floor of the Grand Mosque around 5.30pm with the Mosque packed even though it was before the 6.30pmprayer.

"Dozens of ambulances headed to the site. The authorities closed off the area shortly afterwards," an eye witness said.

"This whole place is already a giant construction site. What made it worse is that around 5.30pm there was severe rain and it's just gushing down the road," he said.

"I am surrounded by people who are grieving. The mood here is of sadness."

Major General Suleiman Al-Amro, the director-general of Saudi's civil defence authority, told Saudi TV that a storm with severe rain and wind speeds as high as 83kmh caused the tower crane to collapse.

"The crane collapsed near Al-Salam gate on the upper side of Al-Masaa area and that caused the collapse of a small part of Al-Masaa & another section of Al-Mataf , the bridge area around the Holy Kaaba,” Amro said

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.

Al Jazeera's senior weather presenter Richard Angwin said the autumn period is when half of Mecca's thunderstorms occur so "it was no great surprise that there were thunderstorms in the area".

"The area of low pressure which brought sandstorms across the Levant region moved further south allowing hot, moist air to develop into thunderstorms along the mountains bordering the Red Sea, and some of those drifted northwards across Mecca," Angwin said.

Mecca is Islam's holiest site. Pilgrims from around the world have been converging on the city and the mosque for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which starts on September 21.