Buhari commiserates with Global Islamic Community over crane collapse in Mecca

Officials on Saturday reported that Masnauli Hasibuan, who left for Mecca from Medan, North Sumatra, and Siti Rasmi Darmini, from Karawang, West Java, died in the incident.

At least 107 people died when the crane toppled into a courtyard of the mosque during extremely high winds on Friday.

Iqbal said the other Indonesians still hospitalized were now being treated at several hospitals and hajj medical centers set up by the Indonesian government across Mecca.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman vowed on Saturday to find out what caused a crane collapse that killed 107 people at Makkah’s Grand Mosque.

“If it weren’t for Al Tawaf bridge the injuries and deaths would have been worse”, he said.

He prays that Almighty Allah will receive the souls of those killed in the incident and grant the injured speedy recovery, Senior Media Aide, Mallam Garba Shehu said in a statement on Saturday.

Prince Khalid Al Faisal, the Makkah governor and head of the central haj committee, has ordered renovations of all damages that were caused by the deadly incident, local news channel Al Arabiya reported. Much of the city centre is undergoing construction work and many high cranes crowd the skyline.

Thousands of pilgrims, including hundreds of Indians, have already arrived in Mecca for Haj. As such the area of the Grand Mosque will be increased by 400,000 square metres in order to accomodate 2.2 million people at a time.

An unnamed Saudi official involved in organizing the hajj was quoted by Al Arabiya as saying the pilgrimage would go ahead as planned.

“While our officials on the ground in Mecca continue to provide assistance to the injured Indians, Saudi authorities permitted the opening of the mortuary for identification of deceased pilgrims on Sunday, the 13th evening”, he said.