Iran: Former diplomat missing after stampede in Saudi Arabia

The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all able-bodied Muslims are required to make the pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives.

The stampede took place at around 7.30 am on Street 204 of the camp city at Mina where pilgrims were stoning the three pillars symbolizing the devil.

Iran announced that 90 of its nationals were among the victims, and accused regional rival Saudi Arabia of safety errors, while pilgrims at the site blamed the authorities and said they were afraid to continue the annual religious rituals.

This year’s Hajj is marred by the deaths of at least 769 people killed in a stampede in the holy city of Mecca, according to Saudi state-run SPA news agency.

“Under global law, this incident is absolutely subject to prosecution”.

“They have to know that we will pursue the trial of Al-Saud for the crime they have committed against the hajj pilgrims through global courts and organizations”.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry meanwhile summoned the Saudi charge d’affaires for a third time in three days to protest Riyadh’s handling of the disaster.

It said more than 220 ambulances and 4,000 rescue workers had been sent to help the injured. It did not provide the nationalities of the dead and injured.

Iranian state TV says 136 Iranian pilgrims were among the dead, 85 were injured and 344 remain missing.

India’s government raised its estimated death toll for Indian citizens from 14 to 18, while Pakistan raised its estimated death toll from eight to 11.

What should have been a day of celebration Saturday was tempered by grief as millions of Muslims marked the final day of Hajj without hundreds of fellow worshipers. Large fans also sprayed water mist to keep the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims performing their hajj rites from over-heating.

Three Saudi officers from the emergency police force at Jamarat were seen attending to a pilgrim who appeared to have suffered from sunstroke.

Madani “expressed hope that no party would seek to take advantage of the pilgrimage and pilgrims, and the incidents that might happen when these crowds of millions perform the same rituals at the same time, in a controversial context that would divide rather than unite”, the statement read.

“Many pilgrims move without respecting the timetables”, which was the “principal reason for this type of accident”, Health Minister Khaled al-Falih was quoted by El-Ekhbariya television as saying on Thursday.

Medics rush to the site where pilgrims were crushed and trampled to… Together, the groups number about 250 pilgrims, council official Saleem Kidwai said.

Later, addressing a press conference, he said he would write a letter to external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj requesting her to facilitate the early return of families, who lost their kin during the stampede.

“Obviously we all want answers”.

This week’s stampede disaster came two weeks after 107 people were killed by a crane collapse at Makkah’s Grand Mosque.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, questioned whether the Saudi government could be trusted with overseeing the hajj.

Saudi Arabia has not responded to the Iranian accusations regarding the convoy.

Hours after the stampede, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged Saudi authorities to accept their responsibility for the tragedy, saying it was caused by “mismanagement”.

The repeated nature of these incidents “means there is malfunction in the administration”, Nasrallah said in an interview Friday on Hezbollah’s Al-Manar channel.