President Orders Taking Care of Iranian Pilgrims Injured in Mecca Crane Collapse
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has ordered the country’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization officials to “immediately” take care of the situation of the Iranian pilgrims injured in the collapse of a crane in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri had a telephone conversation with Head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization Saeed Ohadi on Saturday, stressing President Rouhani’s insistence on handling of the situation of the injured.
On Friday evening, a large construction crane toppled over during a violent rainstorm in Mecca and crashed into the Masjid al-Haram (the Grand Mosque), killing at least 107 pilgrims and wounding 238 others.
One Iranian national was among the dead and 25 other Iranian pilgrims were injured.
The incident has raised fears about the safety of the site before the yearly hajj pilgrimage that is expected to bring in hundreds of thousands of visitors to Saudi Arabia this month.
Masjid al-Haram is the world’s largest mosque and houses the Kaaba, the black cube that Muslims around the world pray toward and which they walk around during the pilgrimage.
The Saudi government is in the midst of a multibillion-dollar project to enlarge the mosque, and the site is currently ringed with cranes.
