A five-storey hotel at a gate to the Grand Mosque in Islam's holiest city collapsed into a pile of rubble yesterday as millions of Muslims converged on the city for the annual haj pilgrimage, security officials said. A pan-Arab television station said at least 23 people were dead and 60 were injured.

Rescue teams rushed to the site and were pulling bodies from beneath the wreckage. The security officials, who spoke anonymously, said most of the victims were Arabs from Egypt, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Al Ghaza Hotel, named for the district in which it is located, is about 60 meters from the Grand Mosque at the Bab al-Salam, or Gate of Peace.

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

The courtyard of the Grand Mosque encloses the Kaaba, a large cubic stone structure that Muslims face during their five daily prayers.

The Prophet Mohammed was born in Mecca, where the Grand Mosque is central to the Muslim faith and the haj.

Daily prayers are also conducted in the mosque's marble-paved yard which can hold thousands.

Islam's five pillars demand that followers profess there is one God and Mohammed is His prophet, pray five times daily, give alms, fast daily during the holy month of Ramadan and if financially able travel to Mecca at least once in their lifetime.

The number of pilgrims to Mecca has increased eleven-fold over the past 15 years. During that time, the Saudi Government spent billions of dollars to improve accommodations, transportation and medical facilities for the "guests of Allah."

The massive gathering has been hit with tragedies frequently in recent years.

The worst haj-related tragedy occurred in 1990 when 1,426 pilgrims were killed in a stampede in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to holy sites in Mecca.

In 2004, on the final day of the ceremonies, 251 people were trampled to death when the crowd panicked during the ritual stoning of the devil. Three years earlier, 35 haj pilgrims were killed in stampede the same ceremony.

In 1998, about 180 pilgrims were trampled to death when panic erupted after several of them fell off an overpass during the ritual. Four years earlier, in 1994, some 270 pilgrims killed in a stampede during the stoning ritual.

(China Daily January 6, 2006)