Pakistan’s Haj stampede death toll jumps to 36

The death toll in a stampede at the annual Hajj pilgrimage outside Mecca has risen to 769, Saudi Arabia said on Saturday, as regional archrival Iran said Saudi officials should be tried in an worldwide court for what it called a “crime”.

Ghazanfar Roknabadi, who worked as the country’s ambassador in Beirut until previous year, has been declared missing and is believed to have been at the pilgrimage to Mecca, Iran’s state TV said.

He continued, “We will reveal the facts when they emerge, and we will not hold anything back”.

He said that Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz had ordered a full investigation into the incident, the results of which would be shared with the media.

Relations between Syiah Iran and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia were already severely strained by conflicts in Yemen and Syria that Riyadh views as a bid by Teheran to expand its influence.

The Iranian delegation is still waiting for visas to enter Saudi Arabia, in order to start overseeing the treatment of injured Iranians and the repatriation of the remains of victims of the stampede, according to Iranian state television.

The September 24 stampede that led to people being crushed and trampled to death was the worst loss of life at the hajj since 1990 when more than 1,400 people were killed in a similar incident.

One spokesperson blamed pilgrims from poorer countries for the stampede, adding that an element of fate must be considered.

The interior ministry has said it assigned 100,000 police to secure the hajj and manage crowds at the event, which drew nearly two million faithful. “I saw [news] about the accident that took place and it made us all very upset”.

Two weeks ago, 110 people died in Mecca’s Grand Mosque when a crane working on an expansion project collapsed during a storm and toppled off the roof into the main courtyard, crushing pilgrims underneath.

He said he has asked for a review of “all existing plans and arrangements…to improve the level of organization and management of the movement” of pilgrims at the hajj.

Able-bodied Muslims are required to perform the five-day pilgrimage once in their lifetime, and each year poses a massive logistical challenge for the kingdom.