At least 20 dead as new tragedy hits Mecca pilgrimage (AFP)

[Up2Late]

(Another very sad story. Sorry.)

At least 20 dead as new tragedy hits Mecca pilgrimage

05/01/2006 18h59

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (AFP) - At least 20 Muslim pilgrims were killed and dozens hurt in the Saudi holy city of Mecca when an aging hostel collapsed in the latest tragedy to hit the annual hajj, an official said. Witnesses spoke of 23 fatalities and scores of injured, but the health ministry spokesman Khaled al-Mirghalani said "at least 20 were killed and 59 wounded."

Major General Alwani Jedawi, head of civil defence for the pilgrimage, had told AFP the hostel, known as Luluat Al-Kheir (Pearl of Grace) was old. The deputy governor of Mecca, Dawoud al-Fayez, said after inspecting the scene that it was too early to provide a final death toll.

"Give us a chance. We are still looking for survivors," he told reporters at the site of the tragedy in Gazzah Street, some 200 metres (yards) north of the Great Mosque -- Islam's holiest shrine. Rescue teams using earthmovers and heavy lifting equipment were frantically searching for survivors among the rubble of the multi-storey building, an AFP correspondent on the scene reported.

Workers in blue jumpsuits were seen moving around with sound-detecting devices in search for buried survivors. Medics were seen pulling out one bloodied survivor with a respirator over his face while a huge yellow crane lifted off slabs of concrete threatening to entomb other people.

(more at link below)
<http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/060105185913.ajafoff5.html>

[Up2Late]

1. kick n/t

:kick: