MINA: More than 700 faithful were killed and hundreds injured in a stampede Thursday in Mina near Mecca, one of the worst tragedies to hit the great pilgrimage in the first shrine of Islam.
This is the deadliest tragedy cast a pall over the past 25 years hajj in Saudi Arabia where two million pilgrims gathered this year.
The stampede, which coincided with the Eid al-Adha, the Muslim festival of sacrifice, occurred during the ritual of stoning of Satan, who is for pilgrims to throw pebbles at three steles representative. A clash between a human tide leaving one of the stelae and a host oncoming caused the tragedy, an official of the Ministry of Health.
The king Salman, who received evening hajj officials, said he expected “no earlier than” the results of the investigation, adding he ordered “a review of plans” for the organization of pilgrimage for the faithful to “perform their rituals safely. ”
In a first official response, the Minister of Khaled al-Faleh Health attributed the lack of discipline in the stampede of pilgrims.
More cautious, the spokesman of the Ministry of Interior, General Mansour Turki, had then recommended “not to anticipate the conclusions of the investigation,” indicating that “the great heat and pilgrims have state of fatigue contributed to the large number of victims. ”
Abroad, the White House Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Germany, France, the European Council President Donald Tusk and Turkey have expressed their sadness and their condolences.
According to the latest figures provided by the Civil Defence, 717 people died and 863 were injured in the stampede.
Pilgrims Dehydrated
While the majority of foreign pilgrims, Iran has reported a balance of 90 deaths among its nationals. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei blamed the Saudi authorities responsible for the stampede, denouncing a “mismanagement” in Riyadh.
The Grand Mufti of Turkey, Mehmet Görmez, said 18 Turkish pilgrims were missing. Algeria has reported three deaths among its nationals. Oman has reported one missing.
Four hospitals have been requisitioned, as well as 220 ambulances and helicopters.
At Mina Emergency Hospital, dozens of ambulances made their way to bring new casualties.
In an indescribable chaos, the pilgrims were transported one after the other on stretchers, while officers tried to keep away onlookers.
Video footage showed many lifeless bodies littering the ground and scattered personal belongings, shoes and umbrellas, which the pilgrims used to protect from the sun.
Earlier in the day, AFP journalists attended malaise scenes. A woman, especially, almost fainted climbing stairs, while two friends splashed her face and crying for help.
According to a Sudanese pilgrim in Mina hajj this was the least organized of the four in which he participated. “People were already dehydrated and fainted. The pilgrims stumbled over each other. ”
Critics are launched regularly on pilgrims’ safety.
Irfan al-Alawi, co-founder of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, based in Mecca, says that the problem lies in crowd control.
“They tried to improve facilities, but the priority for the health and safety always comes after” sit there.
Saudi Arabia has achieved in recent years major infrastructure works to facilitate the movements of the faithful.
And this year, the Kingdom has mobilized 100,000 police officers. Throughout the hajj, the stream of pilgrims has been channeled by the cords of security forces and volunteers distributing food and water.
It is the second tragedy to cast a pall of Muslim pilgrims this year after that of September 11 in which 109 people died in the collapse of a huge crane at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
Of the seven major accidents that hit the hajj since 1990, six occurred during the stoning ritual.
The worst tragedy took place in July 1990: a massive stampede occurred in a tunnel in Mina, presumably as a result of failure of the ventilation system. 1426 pilgrims were suffocated dead.
The hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, began on Tuesday and brings together this year about two million pilgrims by the Saudi statistics.
Two million hajj pilgrims
The approximately two million pilgrims gathered in Mecca to perform the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, flowed back Wednesday night on the plain of Muzdalifah to mark Thursday Feast of the Sacrifice, celebrated by 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide.
After a day of prayer on Mount Arafat, the pilgrims dressed in all white and from around the world were moving hundreds of thousands to Muzdalifah to mark the Eid al-Adha, which is to sacrifice an animal in memory of Abraham. The latter, according to the tradition had almost sacrifice his son Ismail before the angel Gabriel offers in extremis him to sacrifice a sheep in its place.
The major tragedies occurred pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia
The stampede near Mecca Thursday is the deadliest disaster last twenty-five years during the hajj, the pilgrimage of Muslims.
In July 1990, a massive stampede in a tunnel in Mina, near Mecca, had died in 1426.
Here is the list of major tragedies occurred since 1975 in the holy city.
2015
– September 24: 717 people are killed and 805 injured in a stampede during the stoning ritual in Mina steles.
This last hajj ritual of throwing stones in the direction of three stelae symbolizing Satan according to Muslim tradition. The dead included at least 90 Iranian nationals, according to Tehran.
Already, 11 September, 109 people were killed and 400 injured when a massive crane collapsed on the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
2006
– January 12: 364 pilgrims were killed in a stampede during the ritual stoning of Satan steles in Mina.
2004
– 1 February: 251 people are killed in a stampede in Mina, the first day of the stoning of steles.
1998
– April 9: More than 118 pilgrims were killed and over 180 injured in a stampede at Mina during the ritual stoning of the steles.
1997
– April 15: A fire caused by a gas stove havoc pilgrims canvas encampments in the valley of Mina, causing 343 deaths and over 1,500 injured.
1994
– May 24: 270 pilgrims died in a stampede during the ritual of stoning of Satan at Mina, due to a “record influx” of pilgrims according to authorities.
1990
– July 2: A massive stampede occurs in a tunnel in Mina, presumably as a result of failure of the ventilation system. 1,426 pilgrims, mostly Asian, die asphyxiated.
1989
– July 10: A double bombing in the immediate vicinity of the Grand Mosque of Mecca one dead and 16 injured. Sixteen Kuwaiti Shiites accused of being the perpetrators of the attack are executed September 21.
1987
– July 31: The forces of the Saudi order suppress an unauthorized demonstration of Iranian pilgrims (402 dead, including 275 Iranians, according to a Saudi official toll).
1979
– November 20: Several hundred armed men hostile to the Saudi regime barricaded themselves for two weeks in the Grand Mosque of Mecca and took dozens of hostages in pilgrims.
The assault was given on December 4. Official toll: 153 killed, 560 wounded.
1975
– December: A huge fire in a pilgrim camp near Mecca killed 200 people. The fire broke out after the explosion of a gas cylinder and quickly spread in tents.
