Pilgrims may not have followed instructions, says Saudi minister

Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said that the fatigue of pilgrims, and high temperatures – soaring above 43 degrees Celsius, or 110 degrees Fahrenheit – might have also played a role in the stampede, according to the AP.

The monarch said that Saudi authorities had begun steps to upgrade Hajj services.

Leading the criticism against Saudi Arabia, its regional rival Iran expressed indignation at the deaths of 131 of its nationals at the world’s largest annual gathering of people and suggesting Riyadh was incapable of managing the event.

“They don’t have a clue how to engage with these people”, said Irfan al-Alawi, cofounder of the Mecca-based Islamic Heritage Research Foundation.

The incident may worsen relations between the two countries, already strained by opposing stances on the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.

The custodianship of the Muslim holy places forms a key plank in the Saudi monarchy’s claims to legitimacy.

“People come from various countries, speak various languages – there are no directions in their languages, there are no people who can direct them in their languages”, Mr Hussain said.

Omar, like the pilgrims involved in Thursday’s disaster, was headed toward a complex housing three columns that pilgrims pelt with pebbles in a symbolic stoning of the devil.

“There were layers of bodies, maybe three layers”, said one witness who asked not to be named.

“I can blame the Saudi government because they did not control [the situation]”. Pilgrims told government employee Khalid Saleh that the exits were closed so “V.I.P. cars could pass”.

“There was no room to manoeuvre”, said Aminu Abubakar, an AFP correspondent who was among the pilgrims.

A cooking gas cylinder explodes in the pilgrim tent city, causing a fire that kills over 200 pilgrims. “Majority couldn’t make it”.

A formal inquiry is underway.

Mohammed Jafari, an adviser to the Hajj and Umrah Travel tour operator in the United Kingdom, said: “Talking to pilgrims on the ground, they say the main reason for this accident was that the King and his palace was receiving dignitaries including the minister of defence and members of the GCC (the Gulf Co-operation Council)”.

Prince Khaled al-Faisal, the head of the central Hajj committee, levelled a thinly-veiled racist attack at black pilgrims when he pitted the stampede on “some pilgrims with African nationalities”, the Independent reported.