MAKKAH, Saudi Arabia: A fire forced some 1,500 people from their hotel in the Saudi city of Makkah on Monday as hundreds of thousands gathered for the Haj pilgrimage, the civil defence department said.
Four Yemeni pilgrims sustained minor injuries following the pre-dawn fire in a 15-storey hotel, state news agency SPA quoted the department as saying.
A preliminary investigation found a short circuit in a room to have caused the fire, it said.
The hotel's guests are among close to two million Muslims from around the world expected for the Haj, which begins officially on Tuesday.
On Thursday about 1,000 Asian pilgrims were evacuated from their high-rise hotel in Makkah when a fire broke out. Two Indonesian pilgrims were injured.
AFP
