Saudi hajj disaster deadliest to ever strike

The mosque was the scene of a construction crane collapse on September 11 which killed at least 108 people, many of them foreign pilgrims, just before hajj.

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria, NAHCON has confirmed that 99 Nigerian pilgrims died, 42 were injured and 214 others are missing in the September 24 Hajj stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia. The independent tallies are based on the number of dead reported by individual countries whose citizens were in the crush.

Iran says it had 465 pilgrims killed, while Egypt lost 165 and Indonesia 120.

“Discrediting the Saudi handling of the hajj undermines the kingdom’s prestige and legitimacy across the Islamic world”, said Bruce Riedel, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer now at the Brookings Institution.

Data from 29 countries, mostly from official sources, give a total of 1,358 dead in the stampede, far in excess of the Saudi figure of 769 killed.

The Hajj mission in Saudi Arabia confirmed the death toll, said Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh President Mohammad Ibrahim Bahar today.

Shiite power Iran, Sunni Saudi Arabia’s Mideast rival, has blamed the disaster on the kingdom’s “mismanagement” and accused Riyadh of a cover-up, saying the real death toll exceeds 4,700, without providing evidence to support the claim. The Islamic Republic also has called for an independent body to take over the hajj.

Okenwa said only seven of the 42 injured pilgrims were still on admission.

But Saudi Arabia will maintain its “monopoly” over the hajj, even though it will likely face larger and larger crowds as time goes on, said Jon B. Alterman, a senior vice-president at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and worldwide Studies.

When asked on the fate of the missing if there were hope that they can be found alive, the commissioner said: “In the early days people expressed hope but the hope is weaning”. “This speaks a great deal about the anxiety and political sensitivity that Saudi officials feel”.