Mecca Hajj hostel death toll reaches 76 [Archives:2006/910/Local News]

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (Saba)- Four Yemenis were killed and other three injured in the accident of in the collapse of a Muslim pilgrims' hotel in Saudi Arabia on Thursday. One Yemeni is still missed. All Yemeni victims were working in store in the hotel. The bodies of the four men, Mohammed Yusof Ali, Abduh Saleh Hamad, Adel al-Sharabi, Abdullah Hafdallah transferred to one of Mecca's hospitals. The other three injured people, Ali Qasam Ahmed, owner of the shoes store, Mohammed Abduh Yahya Al-Matari, Khaled Mohammed Saleh al-Alaj are now receiving healing

Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesperson of the Interior Ministry, said that 76 persons were died in the accident) 48 men and 28 women. He pointed out that the number of the injured at 62. According to a Health Ministry official, 59 people have been saved from the ruins.

He added that 62 had been wounded in the collapse of the building on Thursday in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, where more than a million pilgrims have assembled.

The tragedy occurred days before Sunday's start of the five-day Hajj, when 2.5 million Muslims cram into the mountain city.

The building was at least 6 stores high and about 30 years old.

The Saba official news agency said President Ali Abdullah Saleh had spoken to the Minister of Endowment to ask about Yemenis were among the victims.
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