Mecca fire of 1997 Mecca fire of 1997 The Mecca fire of 1997 was a fire that occurred in the tent city near Mecca in Saudi Arabia 15 April 1997, killing between 217 and 300 people. The fire erupted in the overcrowded tent city, Mina, where an estimated two million Muslim pilgrims were gathered on for the first day of the Hajj, the ritualistic pilgrimage to Mecca. The fire erupted at 11:45 a.m. (), and was caused by exploding canisters of cooking gas, according to witnesses. The fire was fanned by winds of nearly causing the destruction of an estimated 70,000 tents. Officially, 1,290
Mecca was also fulfilling the pillar of making the Pilgrimage to Mecca. While in Mecca, prayers were made for the King of Irak and then also for El Melik El Nasir. The prayers were made in the Temple of Mecca. This temple is very large, but was also destroyed once and was rebuilt a little bit smaller than the original. The temple also contained images of angels, prophets, Jesus, his mother Mary and many others. This temple is one of the most important parts of Mecca due to the fact that many people make the pilgrimage to Mecca for the purpose