RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: A stampede broke out in Mina outside holy city of Makkah during annual Hajj pilgrimage rituals on Thursday which resulted in the deaths of at least 770 Hujjaj, according to the Saudi civil defence, reports Dispatch News Desk news agency. Over 960 persons are critically injured so far.
UK-based Guardian claims following citizens of following countries were dead:
Pakistan, 236; Iran, 131; Morocco, 87; India, 14; Egypt, 14; Somalia, 8; Senegal, 5; Tanzania, 4; Turkey, 4; Algeria, 3; Kenya, 3; Indonesia, 3; Burundi, 1; and Netherlands, 1.
“Only blood and blood and blood everywhere of Humans not sacrificial animals. Death will higher because people also died of suffocation”, said eyewitnesses.
Hujjaj who survived in incident said that Mina incident needs an international investigation to know what actually happen? . They claimed that air and oxygen pressure went down and first suffocation started then resulted in the whole gory incident.
Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent Abdulrahman Al-Osaimi reporting from Mina emergency hospital said the stampede happened at the entrance of the Jamarat bridge near Street 204, and not inside of the Jamarat area where the stoning pillars are situated.
The Saudi civil defence said that 719 Hujjah were also injured when the incident occurred while the pilgrims were stoning the satan (devil) at Jamarat that is called Rammi.
“Street number 204 is a road leading from the camps to the Jamarat Bridge. What happened was that a group of pilgrims on busses were allowed to descend onto the pathways that lead to the Jamarat Bridge at a time that wasn’t allocated to them,” reported media.
“As they neared the area, they converged with an existing group of people who were already in the area, which pushed the area to overcapacity.”
The civil defense team also said that around 4,000 members of their emergency response team, along with the Red Cross, were deployed to the scene to help lead pilgrims to safer routes away from the stampede. Rescue operations were still underway.
History of tragedies at Hajj pilgrimage during last 30 years. 3,872 Hujjaj officially lost lives. tragedies and Hajj 2015 become Bywords after over 450 Hujjaj died on Hajj day. It may be mentioned that 3,872 Hujjaj officially lost lives during Hajj in 30 years. Major tragedies took place due to stampedes during the “stoning of the devil” or way at Mina.
Islamabad, Pakistan: The deadly stampede at the hajj in Saudi Arabia on Thursday is just the latest tragedy to strike the pilgrimage, reports AFP News Agency.
AFP provided timeline of significant incidents during the annual event, which draws around two million Muslim faithful from around the world.
– 2015
September 24: A stampede during the “stoning of the devil” ritual in Mina, near Mecca, leaves at least 450 people dead and hundreds injured.
September 11: 109 people are killed and hundreds injured, including many foreigners, when a crane collapses on Mecca’s Grand Mosque after strong winds and heavy rain.
– 2006
January 6: 76 people die when a hotel collapses in the city centre.
January 12: 364 pilgrims are killed in a stampede during the stoning ritual in Mina. The ritual involves hajj participants throwing pebbles at three headstones, symbolising their rejection of Satan.
– 2005
January 22: Three pilgrims are crushed to death in a stampede at the stoning ceremony in Mina.
– 2004
February 1: 251 people are killed in a stampede at Mina, also at the stoning of the devil.
– 2003
February 11: 14 faithful, including six women, die on the first day of the stoning ritual.
– 2001
March 5: 35 pilgrims, including 23 women, die at the ritual in Mina.
– 1998
April 9: More than 118 people are killed and 180 injured in a stampede at Mina.
– 1997
April 15: A fire caused by a gas stove rips through a camp housing pilgrims at Mina, killing 343 and injuring around 1,500.
– 1995
May 7: Three people die and 99 are injured when a fire breaks out at the Mina camp.
– 1994
May 24: 270 people are killed in a stampede during the stoning, an incident authorities attribute to “record numbers” of pilgrims at the site.
– 1990
July 2: A huge stampede in a tunnel at Mina after a failure in its ventilation system kills 1,426 pilgrims, mainly from Asia.
– 1989
July 10: A twin attack on the outside of the Grand Mosque kills one and wounds 16.
– 1987
July 31: Saudi security forces suppress an unauthorised protest held by Iranian pilgrims. More than 400 people, including 275 Iranians are killed, according to an official toll.
– 1979
November 20: Hundreds of gunmen opposed to the Saudi government barricade themselves inside the Grand Mosque, taking dozens of pilgrims hostage. The official toll of the assault and subsequent fighting is 153 people dead and 560 wounded.
– 1975
December: A huge fire started by a gas cannister exploding in a pilgrim camp close to Mecca kills 200 people.
