The Haj Stampede: 717 piligrims killed
Mina, Saudi Arabia: At lease 717 piligrims from around the world including 2 from India, were killed on Thursday, 24th
September, 2015 in a stampede outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi
authorities said, in the worst disaster to strike the annual haj pilgrimage for
25 years.
At least 863 others were injured at Mina, a few kilometers east of Mecca, when two large groups of pilgrims arrived together at a crossroads on their way to performing the "stoning of the devil" ritual at Jamarat, Saudi civil defense said.
Thursday's disaster was the worst to
occur at the pilgrimage since July 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims suffocated in a
tunnel near Mecca. Both incidents occurred on Eid al-Adha (Feast of the
Sacrifice), Islam's most important feast and the day of the stoning ritual.
Photographs published on the Twitter
feed of Saudi civil defense on Thursday showed pilgrims lying on stretchers
while emergency workers in high-visibility jackets lifted them into an
ambulance.
Other images showed bodies of men in
white haj garments piled on top of each other. Some corpses bore visible injuries.
Unverified video posted on Twitter
showed pilgrims and rescue workers trying to revive some victims.
The haj, the world's largest annual
gathering of people, has been the scene of numerous deadly stampedes, fires and
riots in the past, but their frequency has been greatly reduced in recent years
as the government spent billions of dollars upgrading and expanding haj
infrastructure and crowd control technology.
Safety during haj is a politically
sensitive issue for the kingdom's ruling Al Saud dynasty, which presents itself
internationally as the guardian of orthodox Islam and custodian of its holiest
places in Mecca and Medina.
INVESTIGATION
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince and Interior Minister Prince
Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdelaziz ordered a committee to be formed to
investigate the disaster and present its findings to King Salman, the Interior
Ministry said.
The ministry spokesman, Mansour Turki
said the investigation would look into what caused an unusual density of
pilgrims to congregate at the location of the disaster. "The reason for
that is not known yet," he told a news conference in Mina.
JAMARAT
Street 204, where the crush occurred, is one of two main
arteries leading through the camp at Mina to Jamarat, the site where pilgrims
ritually stone the devil by hurling pebbles at three large pillars. In 2006, at
least 346 pilgrims died in a stampede at Jamarat.
Few days back crane used for construction was fell killing
about 100 people in Mecca.
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