'Haj won't be affected by Mecca crane collapse'

Riyadh, Sep 13: Saudi authorities said late Saturday that Islam's annual haj pilgrimage won't be affected by Friday's crane collapse that killed 107 and injured 238 pilgrims at Mecca's Grand Mosque, the media reported.

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.

The crane collapsed when working on the expansion operations at the mosque, which aims to accommodate the ever-increasing number of pilgrims from all over the world, Xinhua news agency reported.

An investigative committee has "immediately and urgently" begun searching for the cause of the collapse, the official Saudi Press Agency said.

It said more than 909,000 pilgrims had arrived in Mecca for this year's hajj, expected to start on September 21.

IANS