Saudi king vows to find cause of crane tragedy

Saudi Arabia's King Salman has vowed to find out what caused a crane collapse that killed 107 people, at Mecca's Grand Mosque.

"We will investigate all the reasons and afterwards declare the results to the citizens," he said yesterday after visiting the site, one of Islam's holiest. The official Saudi Press Agency said Salman "discussed the causes of the accident and its effects on the holy mosque" after he saw where the massive crane came down during a vicious thunderstorm on Friday.

It was one of several cranes working on an expansion of the sprawling mosque. The incident occurred as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from around the world have already arrived in Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The dead included Indians and Indonesians. SPA said Salman expressed his condolences to the families of the dead, and then visited a local hospital "to check on the health of the injured who are from several nationalities including Iranian, Turkish, Afghan, Egyptian and Pakistani."