At least 107 people were killed and over 200 were injured when a massive construction crane collapsed on to the Mecca’s Grand Mosque on Friday during storms, the Saudi Arabian government has reported. Of those injured, at least nine people are reported to be Indian pilgrims, according to the Foreign Ministry.

The director general of the country’s civil defence authority, Suleiman al-Amr, said high winds caused the disaster. The rescue teams had been sent to the scene and offered its “sincere condolences” over the deaths, as well as its prayers for the speedy recoveries of those injured, said the civil defence agency on Twitter

The crane collapsed at 5:10 pm (1410 GMT) “as a result of strong winds and heavy rains.” “If it weren’t for Al-Tawaf bridge the injuries and deaths would have been worse,” said an eyewitness who also works there, referring to a covered walkway that surrounds the holy Kaaba, which broke the crane’s fall.

Pictures of the incident circulating on social media showed people lying on a floor, most of them near to a wall and surrounded by rubble and other debris. Other pictures showed parts of a crane that crashed through the roof of a building. A video on YouTube showed people screaming and rushing around right after a massive crash.

The Grand Mosque is usually at its most crowded on Fridays, the Muslim weekly day of prayer. The accident comes just weeks before the annual hajj pilgrimage. Muslims make their annual hajj pilgrimage later in September and Saudi authorities go to great lengths to prepare for the millions of Muslims who converge on Mecca to perform the sacred pilgrimage.

The UK Foreign Office said it was urgently investigating whether any British citizens were caught up in the accident. “We are aware of the incident and are in close contact with the Saudi authorities,” a spokeswoman said.

The pilgrimage, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, has been prone to disasters even in the past. The authorities have taken a series of safety measures over the past decade aimed at preventing crowd crushes after tragedies such as the stampede in 2006, which resulted in 350 deaths, a building collapse in the same year which killed 76 and a stampede that killed more than 200 people in 2004. Last year, it reduced the numbers permitted to perform haj for safety reasons.

Two Indians killed & 9 injured:

The Ministry of External Affairs said that there were two Indians among the 107 people killed in the crash. Around 9 Indian pilgrims were injured and were being treated in hospitals, said the statement posted on Twitter.

Our Consulate in Jeddah is monitoring situation in Makkah following tragic accident. We have recd reports that 9 Indian pilgrims are injured

— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) September 11, 2015

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose country is home to millions of Muslims, took to Twitter to express his sorrow over the incident.