Hajj Crush Investigation: Nigeria Wants Saudi to Involve Affected Nations

One outspoken critic of redevelopment at the holy sites said the police were not properly trained and lacked the language skills for communicating with foreign pilgrims, who make up the majority of those on the Haj.

Officials in Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization say 102 people have also been injured in the incident and are receiving treatment in Iranian health facilities in Saudi Arabia. He added that “mismanagement is definitely the cause” of the tragedy.

At least 747 Muslims from different countries lost their lives and 805 others sustained injuries during a stampede on the road leading to Jamarat (stone throwing site).

Hakim, from Morocco, said: “It is simply scary to hear how people crushed one another”.

The stampede broke out in Mina, about five kilometres from Mecca, during the symbolic “stoning of the devil” ritual.Pilgrims at the scene faulted Saudi authorities and some said they were afraid to carry on with the Haj rituals on Friday.

President Nicos Anastasiades on Friday sent a message of condolence to the King of Saudi Arabia, Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, following the tragic incident near the Holy City of Mecca which cost the lives of hundreds of pilgrims.

In Lebanon, meanwhile, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said the Saudi government bears responsibility for the deadly stampede. Reports said at least 30 people were killed from Mali, 14 each from Egypt and India, five from Senegal, four from Turkey, and three each from Indonesia and Kenya.

He urged the pilgrims to follow the timetable provided by Saudi authorities to prevent similar incident.

The hajj pilgrimage is a main pillar of Islam and two million people from more than 180 countries are taking part in the five-day event which ends on Saturday. The mood remained somber despite the hajj coinciding with Eid al-Adha, a major Islamic holiday.

Egypt’s Religious Endowments Minister Mohammed Mokhtar Gomaa gave the state-run MENA news agency the death toll late Thursday night. They said rescuers arrived two hours after the incident and started collecting dead bodies first instead of helping the injured. On Thursday, the crowds apparently collided with each other at an intersection, the Interior Ministry said.

Earlier, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, “Our officials on the ground in Mecca have been working continuously to ascertain information and reach out to family members of missing pilgrims”.

It has also been learnt that all the 6,588 pilgrims who had gone from Gujarat under the state government’s Haj quota were safe.

“This year’s haj ceremony was disorganised as the Saudi government had hired young and inexperienced people”, Saeed Ohadi, Head of Iran’s haj and pilgrimage organisation told Iran’s state broadcaster in a live interview from Mecca.