Saudi Arabia rejects Iranian criticism over Haj crush

Iran berated Saudi Arabia on Sunday over the deaths of 769 people at the haj pilgrimage, demanding an apology and accusing its rival of seeking to evade blame, while Riyadh in turn accused Tehran of playing politics with the disaster. As for the things that humans can not control, you can not blamed for them. Reports said at least 30 people were killed from Mali, 14 each from Egypt and India, five from Senegal, four from Turkey, and three each from Indonesia and Kenya.

Meanwhile, a Saudi local newspaper, Arab News has reported that Iran has the highest number of dead victims at 136, followed by Morocco with 87.

The incident came less than two weeks after tens of Hajj pilgrims were killed in another tragedy. Iran has threatened to press the case against Saudi Arabia in global courts and has said that the kingdom is not capable to manage a religious rite that draws 2 million pilgrims every year.

It was the second main accident this yr for pilgrims, after a development crane collapsed on September eleven at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, killing over one hundred individuals, together with eleven Indians.

A few have also said that pilgrims who were in a rush to complete the rituals may have contributed to the chaos. “And we will make sure that we will learn from this and we will make sure that it doesn’t happen again”, he added.

In a statement Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs issued the names of 18 pilgrims who have so far been confirmed dead in the stampede, amid fears that the toll may rise.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia categorically denied “misleading and distorted allegations” about road closures that it believes started through Iranian state-controlled media.

Speaking to reporters before a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif repeated that “we need to address the disastrous event in Saudi Arabia“. He said the Hajj should be placed under the authority of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, the world’s largest Muslim organisation.

However, they said security had improved and the crowd was smaller.

The Saudi charge d’affaires in Tehran was also summoned to the Foreign Ministry, which conveyed Iran’s “strong protest” over the failure to protect pilgrims, the official IRNA news agency reported.