AT LEAST 107 people died yesterday after a crane toppled over and crashed into the Grand Mosque in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca.

Another 238 people were injured when the crane, which was being used in construction work, collapsed during a violent rainstorm.

The Grand Mosque is the largest in the world and surrounds Islam’s holiest place, the Kaaba.

“All those who were wounded and the dead have been taken to hospital,” said General Suleiman al Amr, director general of the Civil Defence Authority. “There are no casualties left at the location.”

Images on Saudi state television showed the crane’s boom had smashed through the roof of the mosque.

Millions are expected to descend on Mecca later this month for the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

The crane that fell onto the mosque was one of several being used in the expansion and other construction work in the area around the sanctuary.