High winds blamed for toppling crane at Makkah’s Grand Mosque

High winds were to blame for the toppling of a massive crane that smashed into Makkah’s Grand Mosque and killed at least 107 people ahead of the start of the annual Haj pilgrimage, the head of Saudi Arabia’s civil defence directorate said on Saturday.

The disaster during a violent thunderstorm that roared through Islam’s holiest city late Friday afternoon was the deadliest incident in years surrounding the Haj, which gets underway in full later this month.

Images shared on social media showed a horrifying scene.

The crane boom pierced through the roof of the mosque, bringing down slabs of reinforced concrete and leaving bodies lying amid pools of blood on the polished mosque floors as frightened survivors screamed in panic.

At least 238 people were injured, according to civil defence figures.