At least 15 pilgrims have been killed and 39 injured after a building near the Grand Mosque in Makka collapsed on them just after they returned from midday prayers, the Saudi Interior Ministry said.

A statement from the Saudi Interior Ministry, quoting Major-General Saad al-Tweijery, head of Makka's civil defence team, said the death toll could reach 20 and the number of wounded could number more than 80. Other sources said, at least 23 pilgrims died in the collaps.

Later, civil defence official Major-General Alwani in Makka told the government-run Al-Ekhbariya television that 18 people had died.

Another official told the network that the 40-year-old building's foundations were cracked and too weak to support the weight.

At the scene, Brigadier Khaled Zahouni of the Interior Ministry, said 49 wounded had been pulled from the rubble of the eight-storey Lulu'at al-Khair, a multipurpose building about 60 meters from the Grand Mosque that had a grocery store and a restaurant on the ground floor and was rented out as a hostel during pilgrimages.

A French eyewitness, Abderrahmane Ghoul, said he had seen 23 bodies.

"I was present. It started with a fire in the building. A helicopter started to sprinkle water to put out the fire. Afterwards, the building collapsed," he said.

A Tunisian guide for pilgrims, Talha al-Nizi, said his group had just returned to their hotel, which was adjacent to the al-Najd.

"As I moved to step into my hotel, the whole building collapsed in front of my eyes. The whole street was full of dust," he said.

Victims' nationalities

The building is surrounded by local markets that stay open 24 hours during the pilgrimage, a major source of income in the holy city.

Most of the victims were Arabs from Egypt, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, security officials said on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media.

Saudi government-run Al-Ekhbariya television said many of the casualties were Indonesian.

About one million pilgrims are already in Makka for the Haj pilgrimage which begins on Sunday.

At least 2.5 million are expected to attend this year's Haj.

There was no immediate word on what might have started the fire. In previous years, camp fires have sparked infernos in pilgrim encampments.

The death toll would have been much higher if the tragedy had not struck during one of the five daily prayers observed by Muslims, although many of the casualties were among those praying in the square outside.

The Haj is one of the five pillars of Islam and Muslims are required to make it at least once in their lifetime if they have the means to do so.
In the face of the massive numbers, the Saudi authorities had set a midnight Wednesday deadline for the last pilgrims to arrive in the kingdom.

They had also deployed some 60,000 security personnel to try to prevent any repetitions of the deadly stampedes and structural failures that have marred previous pilgrimages.

PHOTO CAPTION

Rescuers attend the scene of a building collapse in Mecca, Saudi Arabia Thursday, Jan. 5, 2006. (AP)