An Ethiopian worker was killed and 18 Egyptians were injured when the roof of a building under construction collapsed in Saudi Arabia, a newspaper reported on Friday.

They were trapped when the metal roof in Mecca collapsed on Thursday, Okaz said on its website, citing the Civil Defence department.

It did not say what caused the collapse, which is under investigation. The men had been doing metalwork at the time, Okaz reported.

Fifteen of the Egyptians needed hospital treatment.

A day earlier, two Pakistanis died in a separate construction accident in Mecca, the newspaper said.

Millions of expatriates work as labourers and in other jobs in Saudi Arabia.

In April last year, at least 10 construction workers from Pakistan and one from India died in the collapse of a convention centre being built at a university in Qassim northwest of Riyadh.

Source: AFP