Tahir said the pilgrims inside the mosque were performing a rite called umra, which required them to make circles around the cube-shaped structure at the center of the mosque that is the holiest site in Islam.
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The city in Saudi Arabia was preparing for the Hajj, a time of pilgrimage which is one of the Five Pillars of Faith in Islam incumbent upon every Muslim man, which begins next week, and nearly one million pilgrims have already arrived.
Hours later, the representatives of several countries visited the hospitals to identify their citizens.
The head of Saudi Arabia’s civil defence agency, Lt Sulayman Bin-Abdullah al-Amr, said an investigation was being carried out to assess the damage, and the “extent of the safety of these sites”.
32 Iranian pilgrims were also wounded in the incident who are said to be in good health conditions.
This July King Salman launched five new projects as part of the third phase of the expansion, which will increase the total area of the mosque from 35.6ha to 45.6ha.
A statement by a spokesman for the administration of the mosques in Mecca and Medina said the crane smashed into the part of the Grand Mosque where worshippers circumambulate the Kaaba and where pilgrims walk between Mount Safa and Marwa.
Indians and Indonesians were among those killed when the crane collapsed during a storm on what is the main weekly prayer day for Muslims.
Pakistan meanwhile said that 47 of the people injured in the incident were Pakistani pilgrims.
Videos and pictures posted online to social media reveal a chaotic and grisly scene, with hundreds of people shrieking during the crane’s fall and its bloody aftermath.
The accident occurred on Friday when a crane crashed onto the Mecca’s Grand Mosque, as HNGN previously reported.
The investigative committee was headed by Hesham al-Faleh, an adviser to Prince Khaled, who was under orders to submit the findings urgently.
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A Saudi official said the hajj, expected to start on Sept 21, would go ahead despite the tragedy.
