Fire Guts Building In Mecca

Dozens of people were evacuated from a hotel in the Saudi city of Mecca, after fire broke out, the civil defence service said on Monday.

Over two million people are expected to perform the annual hajj pilgrimage in Mecca in less than a fortnight.

Nayef al-Sharif, a civil defence spokesperson, confirmed that no casualties were reported in the fire, the News Agency of Nigeria reports.

According to him, the fire started from a spark sparked by a faulty air conditioning unit on the eighth floor of a hotel in the Azaziyah district of Mecca.

He said the over 600 residents have since been returned back to the hotel, after authorities were able to put out the fire and clean up the environment.