Crane collapse kills 107 people at Macca's Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabh

At least 107 people have been killed and more than 230 people were injured when the crane collapsed in the holy city of Macca in Saudi Arabia.

A huge crane was crashed into the part of the Grand Mosque, the largest in the world, that was filled with hundreds of worshippers at that time.

The head of Saudi Arabia's civil defence said strong winds and heavy rain has caused the collapse.

Macca is currently preparing for the annual Muslims Hajj pilrinage.
Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to arrive in Saudi city from all over the world later this month.

The collapse occurred at 17:23 Local Time(14:23 GMT) said Director-General of Saudi Civil Defense Authority Lt Sulayam Bin-Abdullah-al-amr.

It happened at a time when many worshippers were there for Friday prayers.

Shortly before the crash the city was hit by an unusual high levels of rainfall and heavy winds of up to 83kmph.

Lt Amr said an investigation was being carried out to assess the damage and the extent of the safety of these sites.

Macca is preparing to welcome Muslims from around the world for annual Hajj pilgrimage, which will begin in about 10 days time.

Saudi authorities began a major expansion of the site last year to increase the area of the mosque by 400,000 square meter, to allow it to accommodate upto 2.2 million people at a time.