MINA,
Saudi Arabia, January 13, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies)
– At least 362 Muslim pilgrims, including 100 Egyptian nationals,
were crushed to death in a deadly hajj stampede, according to senior
Saudi medial officials Friday, January 13.
"We
now have 362 dead, including about 100 Egyptians," Hussein Saleh
Bahashwan, deputy director at Al-Muaysem morgue, just outside the city
of Mina, told Agence France Presse (AFP).
At
least 36 Pakistanis, 26 Indians, four Chinese and two Indonesian
nationals were among the victims, according to their foreign
ministries.
"It
is a very tragic incident and we have identified that 36 bodies are
from Pakistan," Pakistan's religious affairs minister Ijazul Haq
told AFP by telephone from Saudi Arabia. "Their bodies were badly
crushed."
Earlier
estimates said at least 345 pilgrims were trampled to death and almost
300 injured Thursday in a scramble to hurl pebbles at symbols of Satan
on the last day of the annual Muslim hajj in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi
authorities blamed the deadly stampede on unruly pilgrims from outside
officially-sanctioned operators.
But
some witnesses said police triggered the chaos by suddenly blocking
the entrance to a bridge. Other witnesses reported panic among
pilgrims about when they should perform the last rite of hajj.
More
than two million Muslim pilgrims were performing the final rites of
this year's hajj Thursday.
"Baggage"
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Muslim pilgrims stone the devil in Mina. (Reuters).
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Saudi
Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz said in remarks published Friday by
the Saudi-owned Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper that the stoning
ceremony had been taking place for several days without problems.
"But
what happened is that more than 12 people were carrying a large amount
of baggage on their backs, so when it became too crowded they fell on
the ground one on top of the other," he said.
"People
kept falling one on top of the other until about 300 people
died," he said.
"Our
pilgrim brothers are forbidden from carrying baggage and workloads on
their shoulders during the stoning ritual," Prince Sultan added.
On
Thursday, Saudi Health Minister, Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Maneh said the
stampede was caused by "unruly pilgrims, and a problem of
luggage."
Interior
ministry spokesman Mansur Al-Turki also said the accident occurred
"because of the luggage that fell and led to a rush at the
eastern entrance of the Jamarat bridge," where the pilgrims stone
the three pillars.
Tragedies
Thursday's
tragedy comes days after 76 people were killed when a hostel in the
heart of the holy city of Makkah collapsed last week.
A
total of 251 Muslim pilgrims were trampled to death in the 2004 hajj
as people panicked during the stoning.
In
2003, 14 pilgrims, including six women, were killed in a stampede
during the first day of the stoning ritual, and 35 died in 2001, while
in 1998 the hajj saw 118 killed and more than 180 hurt at Mina.
The
deadliest toll of hajj was in July 1990 when 1,426 pilgrims were
trampled or asphyxiated to death in a stampede in a tunnel, also in
Mina.
