Hajj stampede: Saudi Arabia rejects Iran criticism

“This is not a situation with which to play politics”, Adel al-Jubeir, the foreign minister, said in New York.

The crush occurred on Thursday morning as two million pilgrims were taking part in the Hajj’s last major rite. Religious Affairs MinisterSardar Mohammad Yousaf has said that 36 Pakistani pilgrims were killed and 35 injured in the stampede near Saudi holy city of Mecca on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has already ordered a safety review, and a special investigative committee is being formed.

“If mistakes were made, those who made them will be held accountable, and we will make sure that we will learn from this in order to ensure that it doesn’t happen again”.

Iranian officials say that, three days after the incident, they suspect most of the missing are dead too.

“Saudi Arabia is under fire particularly from rival Iran over” weaknesses” in the Hajj security plan, a charge rejected by the Kingdom.

The first plane carrying Iranian pilgrims back home from Saudi Arabia landed at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini worldwide Airport on Monday afternoon.

According to Moroccan media, at least 87 people died in the Hajj stampede at Mina, a large valley 5 km Makkah.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are bitterly divided on a host of regional issues and support opposite sides in the wars raging in Syria and Yemen.

Syed Asad Murtaza Gilani, a former member of the National Assembly and nephew of former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, is among the dead. All able-bodied Muslims with the financial means are required to undertake the pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, at least once in their lifetime.

About the number of missing Pakistanis, he said that reports reaching here from Saudi Arabia suggested that 50 per cent of the pilgrims who could not be initially contacted had reported to their respective hotels.

They also stood in prayer.

“The flow of pilgrims from two opposite directions resulted in the overcrowding and the stampede ensued”, the newspaper quoted the anonymous Iranian official as saying.

In a statement he said most of the Pakistani pilgrims who embraced martyrdom in the deadly incident have been identified.

Information for this article was contributed by Aya Batrawy, Cara Anna and Matthew Lee of The Associated Press.