Crane collapse kills at least 107 in Mecca Grand Mosque

At least 107 people have been killed and 238 others injured after a crane collapsed in Mecca's Grand Mosque, Saudi Arabia's civil defence authority says.

Pictures posted online showed queues of Saudi men volunteering to donate blood for those injured in Friday's crash.

Saudi authorities began a major expansion of the site last year to increase the area of the mosque by 400,000 square metres (4.3 million square feet), to allow it to accommodate up to 2.2 million people at once.

The crane that collapsed yesterday was one of a number dotted around the site as part of the construction project.

Major General Suleiman Al-Amro, director-general of Saudi's civil defence authority, told Saudi TV that a storm with severe rain and wind speeds as high as 83kmh caused the tower crane to collapse.

"The crane collapsed near Al-Salam gate on the upper side of Al-Masaa area and that caused the collapse of a small part of Al-Masaa and another section of Al-Mataf, the bridge area around the holy Kaaba,” Amro said.