Breaking News! Death Toll In Mecca Mosque’s Crane Collapsed Rises To 107.

The death toll in yesterday crane crash at the Saudi Mosque has increased to 107.

Many people were killed when a crane toppled over at Mecca’s Grand Mosque yesterday, Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence authority confirmed. And a further 238 people were wounded.

An inquiry into how a crane fell through the roof of Islam’s largest mosque has been launched.

 ‘All those who were wounded and the dead have been taken to hospital. There are no casualties left at the location,’ General Suleiman al-Amr, director general of the Civil Defence Authority, told al-Ikhbariya television.

Strong wind and rains had uprooted trees and rocked cranes in the area, he said.

A statement by a spokesman for the administration of the mosques in Mecca and Medina said the crane smashed into the part of the Grand Mosque where worshippers circle the Kaaba – the black-clad cube towards which the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims face to pray.

Pictures circulating on social media showed people in blood-stained robes and debris from a part of the crane that had crashed through a ceiling.

Saudi authorities go to great lengths to prepare for the millions of Muslims who converge on Mecca to perform the sacred pilgrimage.

Last year, they reduced the numbers permitted to make the haj pilgrimage on safety grounds because of construction work to enlarge the Grand Mosque.

The haj, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, has been prone to disasters in the past, mainly from stampedes as pilgrims rush to complete rituals and return home. Hundreds of pilgrims died in such a crush in 2006.

Saudi authorities are now launching an investigation into the tragic incident to assess damage and look into the extent of safety of the site.