Saudi officials: Over 700 dead in hajj pilgrimage stampede
Jane Onyanga-Omara, USA TODAY
11:34 a.m. EDT September 24, 2015
More than 450 people were killed and over 700 injured in a stampede Thursday during the annual hajj pilgrimage just outside Mecca, Saudi officials said. The civil defense directorate said teams were leading pilgrims to safety and that rescue operati USA TODAY At least 717 people were killed and more than 800 injured in a stampede Thursday during the annual hajj pilgrimage outside Mecca, Saudi officials said. Saudi Arabia's civil defense directorate said the incident happened in Mina, about three miles from Mecca — Islam's holiest city — and tweeted images of rescuers helping injured pilgrims lying on the ground. It said the dead were of different nationalities. The directorate said teams were leading pilgrims to safety and that rescue operations were continuing, Al Arabiya reported. Officials said around 4,000 rescue workers and 220 ambulances were sent to the scene. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef was appointing a "supreme committee of inquiry" to investigate the tragedy, the Saudi News Agency reported. Tragedy is no stranger to the hajj, which draws massive crowds in 100-degree heat. In 1990, more than 1,400 Muslim pilgrims en route to Mecca suffocated or were trampled to death in a stampede into an air-conditioned pedestrian tunnel. Earlier this month, at least 111 people were killed and nearly 400 injured when a crane collapsed into a section of Mecca's Grand Mosque. Stampedes have happened before in Mina, a valley where the symbolic "stoning of the devil" — the last major rite of the pilgrimage — occurs. Pilgrims sleep in 160,000 tents in Mina during the hajj. Hundreds of thousands of people had gathered Thursday for the rite, where pebbles are thrown against three stone pillars representing the devil. The directorate said the crush happened in the morning as pilgrims surged at an intersection of two streets. Worshippers were headed toward a five-story structure — known as Jamarat Bridge — which is designed to ease the crowd pressure and prevent people from being trampled, the Associated Press reported. There was a "sudden increase" in pilgrims heading toward the pillars inside the structure, which "resulted in a stampede among the pilgrims and the collapse of a large number of them," the directorate's statement said, according to the BBC. In a statement, Saudi Arabia's health minister blamed the tragedy on "undisciplined pilgrims" who hadn't followed instructions, CNN reported. Iran, a Shiite nation and often a bitter rival of its Sunni neighbor, blamed Saudi security. Saeed Ohadi, head of Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, said two routes leading to the stoning point were blocked, causing a crush of pilgrims. Ohadi said 47 Iranian men were killed. Some 2 million people are taking part in this year's hajj pilgrimage, which started Tuesday. Muslims around the world are currently marking Eid al-Adha, one of Islam's two most important holidays. Saudi officials introduced safety improvements after nearly 350 people were killed in a stampede during the devil stoning ritual in 2006. The day before that hajj began, at least 73 people died when an eight-story building near the Grand Mosque collapsed. After the 2006 stampede, the Jamaraat Bridge and the pillars were demolished and rebuilt. The new wider, multilevel bridge is aimed at allowing easier and safer access to the columns. All able-bodied Muslims with the financial means are required to undertake the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam and the largest annual mass gathering in the world, at least once in their lifetime. (c) Copyright 2015 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. To subscribe or visit go to: www.usatoday.comhttp://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/09/24/hajj-pilgrimage-stampede/72724368 |