Hajj Crush Deadliest Ever At Pilgrimage

The Sudanese government revised upwards the number of its citizens who died in the stampede that occurred near the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia last month.

The AP count of dead is almost 600 more than the official death toll.

“Indonesian hajj officials from the Ministry of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the National Police’s disaster victims identification team, as well as the Indonesian consulate in Jeddah will continue to [coordinate efforts to] investigate the whereabouts of [Indonesian] pilgrims who have yet to [be identified]”, Arsyad said.

The higher count comes from tolls offered by 17 countries through their officials or state media broadcasts.

Authorities have said the Mina crush and stampede happened as two waves of pilgrims converged on a narrow road, causing hundreds of people to suffocate or be trampled to death.

He said the board could not categorically say if the missing pilgrims were dead as efforts to locate them either in the hospitals or morgues yielded no result, but he confirmed that one female pilgrim died during the stampede. Egypt has reported 148, while Indonesia has reported 120.

Meanwhile, Hassan Qashqavi, the Deputy Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs, said it is not clear yet whether the 116 Iranian pilgrims missing in Saudi Arabia have passed away or are perhaps in Saudi prisons.

Iran has called for an independent body to take over planning and administering the five-day hajj pilgrimage, required of all able Muslims once in their lifetimes.

But even before this year’s Hajj began, disaster struck Mecca as a construction crane crashed into the Grand Mosque on 11 September, killing at least 111 people.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has ordered an urgent review of this year’s Hajj plans to improve its organisation.

In 2006, 346 pilgrims were killed during the stoning ritual in the same street as this year’s crush. Iran has blamed Saudi authorities for the disaster, which heightened tensions between the two regional rivals.

Tehran has accused Riyadh of mismanaging the annual pilgrimage, which this year saw more than 2 million people take part from across the world.

Religious affairs minister says they have received at least three requests from the bereaved families in this regard.

Under such circumstances, it is only natural that various political and religious parties are demanding that the management of the Hajj be transferred from Saudi Arabia to a joint Muslim administration.