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More than 70 dead in Mecca building ruins

MECCA, Saudi Arabia - Hundreds of men using cranes, hand tools and blowtorches pulled bodies from the rubble of a four-story building that collapsed in Islam's holiest city, and authorities said Friday the death toll reached at least 76.

The Saudi Interior Ministry also said Thursday's collapse injured 62. The nationalities of the victims were not released.

The disaster marred the start of the annual gathering of millions of Muslims for the hajj pilgrimage that begins Monday. More than 1-million attended Friday prayers in the Grand Mosque, which is just 200 feet from the building that collapsed.

On Friday afternoon, about 24 hours after the collapse, workers called off the search for survivors in the pile of concrete and steel. The building was used as a hotel during the hajj.

Hundreds of men had worked through Thursday night, under spotlights and with cranes and blowtorches, to remove huge slabs of concrete, occasionally stopping to use microphones to listen for survivors. While people were rescued Thursday, workers found nobody alive Friday.

"Fortunately, the building was almost empty when it collapsed, because most of the residents were in the holy shrine," civil defense Maj. Gen. Alwani, who did not provide his first name, told state-run Al-Ekhbariya television. "Most of the casualties were from the passers-by."

An unidentified government official told Al-Ekhbariya the building's foundations were cracked and weak. However, the operator of the hotel, Habib Turkestani, a relative of the Saudi owner, said the structure was safe.

According to Islam, anyone who dies on the way to, or during, the hajj is a martyr and goes to heaven.

[Last modified January 7, 2006, 01:25:29]