According to Vanguard, a huge stampede has killed at least 717 people and injured hundreds more at the hajj in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, in one of the worst-ever tragedies at the annual Muslim pilgrimage.
The stampede, the second deadly accident to hit the pilgrims this month following a crane collapse in Mecca, broke out during the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual, the Saudi civil defence service said.
Bodies of pilgrims wearing traditional white clothing were left scattered by the crush, surrounded by discarded shoes, flattened water bottles and umbrellas that had been used for protection from the sun.
The civil defence service said that it was still counting the dead, who included pilgrims from different countries, and that at least 863 people had also been hurt.
Nearly two million people from across the globe were attending the hajj, one of the largest annual gatherings in the world.
Iran said at least 43 of its citizens were dead and accused Saudi Arabia of safety errors that caused the accident.
But a Saudi minister blamed the pilgrims themselves, saying they had not followed the rules laid out by authorities.
“Many pilgrims move without respecting the timetables” set for the hajj, Health Minister Khaled al-Falih told El-Ekhbariya television.
“If the pilgrims had followed instructions, this type of accident could have been avoided,” he said, vowing a “rapid and transparent” investigation.
– ‘Tripping all over each other’ –
The stampede began at around 9:00 am (0600 GMT), shortly after the civil defence service said on Twitter it was dealing with a “crowding” incident in Mina, about five kilometres (three miles) from Mecca.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had converged on Mina on Thursday to throw pebbles at one of three walls representing Satan, for the last major ritual of the hajj which officially ends on Sunday.
A hospital official told AFP the incident happened outside the Jamarat Bridge structure, where the stoning takes place. A group of pilgrims leaving the area collided with another group that was either moving in the opposite direction or camped outside, the official said.
A Sudanese pilgrim in Mina said this year’s hajj was the most poorly organised of four he had attended.
“People were already dehydrated and fainting” before the stampede, said the pilgrim who declined to be named.
People “were tripping all over each other”, he said, adding that a Saudi companion had warned him that “something was going to happen”.
Helicopters were flying overhead and ambulances were rushing the injured to hospital, AFP reporters at the scene said.
At one hospital, a steady stream of ambulances discharged pilgrims on stretchers.
The incident came as the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims marked Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, the most important holiday on the Islamic calendar.
It was the second major accident this year for hajj pilgrims, after a construction crane collapsed on September 11 at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site, killing 109 people including many foreigners. (Vanguard Ngr)