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A powerful storm caused a crane to topple Friday afternoon at one of Islam's most important mosques -- the Masjid al-Haram, or Grand Mosque in Mecca -- killing at least 107 people and injuring 238 others, Saudi Arabia's civil defense authorities said Friday on Twitter.
The crane fell 10 days before the start of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage expected to bring 2 million people to Mecca. The Masjid al-Haram surrounds Islam's holiest site, the Kaaba -- a shrine that worshippers circle.
A strong thunderstorm developed over Mecca at about 4 p.m. local time Friday (9 a.m. ET), bringing gusty winds that shifted direction and caused the local temperature to drop from 42 to 25 degrees Celsius (107.6 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit), CNN meteorologists reported. The crane fell at 5:23 p.m. local time, Saudi Civil Defense Director Suleiman al-Amro said on state TV.
Yahya Al Hashemi, 30, a CNN iReporter, shot iPhone video of the crane toppling and striking the roof of the mosque.
"We just washed and were getting ready to head to the Masjid al-Haram for the Maghrib prayer (sunset prayer)," he said. "It was sandstorm which turned to rainstorm and lot of the construction covering boards were flying around, and lots of cracking noises which unfortunately ended with this tragedy. ... Everybody were pushing trying to escape from inside towards the exits.
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Amateur video and photos on social media showed a sandstorm over the Mecca skyline. Photos shot inside the mosque showed bodies, blood and debris scattered on the floor.Khaled Al-Maeena, editor at large at the Saudi Gazette in Jeddah, said the storm was so strong it uprooted trees and broke window panes throughout Mecca. The crane fell between times the mosque is crowded with people, he said.
"Had it happened an hour later it would have been much worse," he said. "Had it happened five hours earlier or four hours earlier, I think the death toll would have been more than a thousand.
Cranes surround the Grand Mosque, which is being enlarged to make the pilgrimage more manageable, he said
"The irony is that all this expansion was being done to see to the welfare of the pilgrims," he said.
7 photos: Dozens die in Mecca crane collapse
The Masjid al-Haram surrounds Islam's holiest site, the Kaaba -- a shrine that worshipers visit during the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca
ather at the scene of the collapse.
7 photos: Dozens die in Mecca crane collapse
A crane collapsed Friday, September 11, at one of Islam's most important mosques, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. At least 87 people were killed and more than 200 were injured, Saudi Arabian authorities said via Twitter.
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Severe storms and heavy rain caused the crane to fall, the directorate of the Saudi Civil Defense said via Twitter. A strong thunderstorm popped up over Mecca about 4 p.m. local time Friday, bringing gusty winds that shifted direction and caused the local temperature to drop from 42 to 25 degrees Celsius (107.6 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit), CNN meteorologists reported.
7 photos: Dozens die in Mecca crane collapse
The Masjid al-Haram surrounds Islam's holiest site, the Kaaba -- a shrine that worshipers visit during the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
At least 12 Egyptian pilgrims were injured, the Egyptian health ministry said. Ministry spokesman Hossam Abdel-Ghaffar told Ahram Online that two were in critical condition. India's external affairs ministry received reports nine of its pilgrims were injured, a ministry spokesman said Friday via Twitter.
The Grand Mosque is no stranger to tragedies, often because of the crush of people in Mecca for Hajj.
In 2006, a stampede killed at least 363 people. That stampede, like others in the past, happened during a stone-throwing ritual in which the pilgrims stone a symbolic devil.
Hundreds were killed in stampedes in 2004 and 1998 and 1,426 died in 1990.
Islam requires every Muslim who is physically and financially able to make the journey to Mecca at least once in his/her life.
Hajj occurs two months and 10 days after Ramadan ends, during the Islamic month of Dhul-Hijjah.