MAKKAH, Jan 5: Eighteen Haj pilgrims were killed and dozens hurt when an aging hostel collapsed in Makkah on Thursday. Witnesses spoke of 23 fatalities and scores of injured, but Maj Gen Alwani Jedawi, head of the Haj civil defence, said the toll had reached ‘at least 18’, and put the figure of injured at 49.

He said the hostel, known as Luluat Al Kheir (Pearl of Grace) was old.

The deputy governor of Makkah, Dawoud al Fayez, said after inspecting the scene that it was too early to provide a final death toll.

“Give us a chance. We are still looking for survivors,” he told reporters at the site of the tragedy in Gazzah Street, some 200 metres north of the Great Mosque.

Rescue teams using earthmovers and heavy lifting equipment were frantically searching for survivors in the rubble of the multi-storey building.

Workers in blue jumpsuits were seen moving around with sound-detecting devices in search for buried survivors.

Medics were seen pulling out one bloodied survivor with a respirator over his face while a huge yellow crane lifted off slabs of concrete threatening to entomb other people.

PAKISTANIs safe: There was no Pakistani among the dead or injured in Makkah building collapse, Director Hajj Behrullah Hazarvi said on Thursday.

“It has been confirmed from the Saudi authorities that not a single Pakistani pilgrim was among the dead or injured in Makkah building collapse in Saudi Arabia,” he told PTV.—Agencies