MINA, SAUDI ARABIA, February 12 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – More than two million Muslims on the Hajj pilgrimage continued the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual in Mina, just outside Mecca, on Wednesday, February 12, a day after 14 pilgrims died and 22 others injured in a stampede, in the first major accident in this year's Hajj.

Security measures were stepped up in and around the two-tier bridge where three giant concrete pillars representing Satan stand to try to prevent a repeat of the stampede, while helicopters hovered overhead, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

The stampede happened about one kilometer away from the bridge at the peak hour of "Stoning Satan" when two groups of pilgrims walked in opposite directions.

At the time of the stampede, up to 850,000 pilgrims were either stoning the symbolic statue of Satan or walking towards the bridge where some 300 hi-tech digital cameras have been installed and linked to the command and control system.

"The timely intervention of the security forces had prevented a major disaster and minimized the casualties.

"And the presence of a large number of police greatly helped to reduce losses," said Brigadier Abdul Aziz Said, head of Saudi Arabia's Hajj command and control center.

"What happened was purely accidental and not a result of the failure in our security arrangements. It was the result of overcrowding caused by pilgrims not following the rules strictly," he added.

The 14 killed included four Pakistanis, three Indians, and two Egyptians, one each from Sudan, Yemen and Iran. Two others remain unidentified.

Twenty of the wounded were treated on the spot and the other two were discharged from hospital a few hours after the stampede.

Tuesday's deadly stampede was the fourth of its kind to happen during the stoning at Mina.

Last year's pilgrimage passed off without major incidents, but 35 pilgrims died the previous year in a stampede.

In 1998, 118 pilgrims were killed and more than 180 others injured, while a similar stampede in 1994 cost 270 lives.

The stoning ritual demands that pilgrims hurl seven stones every day for three days at each of the three 18-meter (58-foot) high pillars standing 155 meters (yards) apart.

The ritual takes place at the site where Satan appeared first to Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him), to his son Prophet Ismael (pbuh) and to Abraham's wife Hagar.

Abraham and his family each threw seven stones at Satan. The gesture has been followed, and Muslims must perform it to complete the hajj.

According to latest official figures some 1.431 million pilgrims have come from outside Saudi Arabia and around 600,000 from various parts of the kingdom.

They were joined by around 200,000 Mecca residents.

At least 82 pilgrims died of natural causes on Sunday and Monday, February 9, 10, a majority of them old aged or suffering from heart problems, AFP said.

The stoning ritual will carry on until Thursday, February 13, with some pilgrims also electing to stone on Friday.