About 310 killed in Saudi Hajj stampede

Another tragedy has struck in the holy land of Mecca, as at least 310 people have been killed and more than 450 injured in a stampede at the annual Hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence directorate reports.
The stampede happened in Mina, where pilgrims carry out a symbolic stoning of the devil by throwing pebbles against three stone walls. It also houses more than 160,000 tents where pilgrims spend the night during the pilgrimage.
The incident reportedly took place in a street between pilgrim camps named Street 204.
Amateur video shared on social media showed a horrific scene, with scores of bodies – the men dressed in the simple terry cloth garments worn during Hajj – lying amid crushed wheelchairs and water bottles along a street.
Survivors assessed the scene from the top of roadside stalls near white tents as rescue workers in orange and yellow vests combed the area.
About 4,000 rescue services personnel were participating in the operation to help the injured and about 220 ambulances were directed to the scene, a civil defence spokesman said.
Photos released by the directorate on its official Twitter account showed rescue workers helping the wounded onto stretchers and loading them onto ambulances near some of the tents.
Al Jazeera’s Omar Alsaleh, reporting from Mecca, said the number of deaths may rise.
“This is only the initial number … The Hajj season was already been overshadowed by the crane accident that killed 107 people and wounded more than 200,” Alsaleh said, adding: “The area has turned to a big massive construction site to allow more pilgrims to visit Mecca during Hajj.

Read also: Saudi Arabia crane tragedy: Death toll now 107

“Mina has more than 160,000 tents divided over several camps, and with the 1.9 million people taking part in this year’s Hajj, you will understand the logistical nightmare that the Saudi authorities are facing.”
Saudi authorities take extensive precautions to ensure the security of the Hajj and the safety of pilgrims. But tragedies are not uncommon.
In 2006, more than 360 pilgrims were killed in a stampede at the desert plain of Mina, where pilgrims carried out the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual.
The day before the 2006 Hajj began, an eight-story building being used as a hostel near the Grand Mosque in Mecca collapsed, killing at least 73 people.
Two years earlier, a crush of pilgrims at Mina killed 244 pilgrims and injured hundreds on the final day of the Hajj ceremonies.
In 2001, a stampede at Mina during the final day of the pilgrimage ceremonies killed 35 pilgrims.
The worst hajj-related tragedy, which occurred in 1990, claimed the lives of 1,426 pilgrims in a stampede in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to holy sites in Mecca.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now