Rescue workers searching for signs of life at a four-story building that collapsed in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, ended their operation yesterday, having found no new survivors.

Rescuers aided by bright spotlights worked into the night tonight, searching for survivors and clearing rubble from the collapse of an eight-storey building that killed at least 15 people, the latest tragedy to mar the annual gathering of millions of Muslims in Islam’s holiest city.