A crane collapsed inside the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, killing at least 107 people and injuring more than 200, the country's civil defense authority said Friday.
Director Suleiman bin Abdullah al-Amro told the Associated Press high winds caused the crane to topple onto the Grand Mosque.
"The speed of the wind was not normal," he said. "There was no way for people to know that the crane was about to collapse for them to scramble."
Pilgrims from all over the world are descending on Mecca, Islam's holiest city, for this month's annual Hajj pilgrimage. Nearly 910,000 pilgrims have already arrived in the country for this year's hajj season, according to official figures.
Multiple cranes had been erected around the mosque as construction continued on new buildings, the AP also reported. In recent years, the area around the sanctuary has been transformed with new luxury shops and high-rise buildings, including the 1,971-foot Abraj Al-Bait Clock Tower, currently the third-tallest building in the world.
Storms were present at the time of the crane collapse, according to enhanced satellite imagery.
Strong winds were the likely cause of the tragic event, according to weather.com meteorologist Jon Erdman. Just after 6 p.m. local time, weather observations showed sustained winds as high as 25 mph at Jeddah's King Abdul Aziz International Airport, located about 40 miles west of Mecca. Erdman also noted that the airport was reporting sandstorm conditions, indicating a high likelihood of strong straight-line winds from the storms.
"Infrared satellite imagery showed an impressive conflagration of thunderstorms in the mountains around the 'Hollow of Mecca' Friday evening," Erdman said. "These storms were certainly capable of producing strong outflow wind gusts, as is often the case in desert environments."
http://www.weather.com/news/news/mecca-crane-collapse
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