At least 345 Muslim pilgrims were trampled to death on Thursday as they tripped over luggage in a scramble to hurl pebbles at symbols of Satan during the annual pilgrimage, Saudi officials said.
It was the latest in a succession of stampede tragedies to hit the hajj pilgrimage despite efforts by Saudi authorities to avoid a repeat of disasters like the one that killed 1Â 426 people in 1990.
Saudi authorities blamed the incident on unruly pilgrims from outside the officially-approved tours, while eye witnesses said Saudi security forces triggered chaos by suddenly blocking the entrance to the bridge where the three pillars symbolising Satan are located in Mina, five kilometres east of the holy city of Mecca.
Others blamed it on panic and misunderstanding among pilgrims on when they should perform the last rite of the hajj, which ends on Thursday and in which about 2,5-million took part.
At least 345 people were killed and 289 others wounded in a stampede caused by “unruly pilgrims, and a problem of luggage”, Saudi Health Minister Hamad bin Abdullah al-Maneh told reporters.
“Today, just after zawal, there was a big rush among the pilgrims which led a group of them to be killed or wounded,” he said, referring to the time after midday prayers when sun begins to set.
Khaled Yassin, head of rescue operations in the city of Mecca, said the stampede took place around 1pm (9am GMT) and that 70 ambulances rushed victims to seven hospitals in Mina and nearby Arafat.
“We received some 600 casualties, many of whom were transfered to other hospitals,” said a medical source at Mina General Hospital. Many of the bodies brought to hospital as well as the wounded were from South East Asian countries.
The Saudi-owned al-Arabiya news channel showed footage of the bodies of dozens of pilgrims lying on the ground covered with white shrouds.
Interior ministry spokesperson Mansur al-Turki said the accident ccurred “because of the luggage that fell and led to a rush at the eastern entrance of the Jamarat bridge”, as the overpass is known in Arabic.
Outside Mina hospital, a Palestinian pilgrim was rushing in to check on his wife who was wounded in the stampede.
“Everybody was pushing from behind to get through and suddenly police blocked the entrance and people started falling on each other,” said Mohammed al-Farra, (32).
“I fell down and when I got up I saw my wife being trampled on by 50 people maybe. It is a miracle she’s alive.”
Inside an elderly man cried as he held a white robe stained with blood.
“This is the blood of my wife who died as a martyr in my hands,” sobbed Egyptian Qotob Metwali (59) who was being treated at the hospital together with his son Metwali (30).
“We were walking toward the bridge when we saw piles of luggage which caused people to fall, and then we heard women and elderly people screaming,” said Metwali.
Another Egyptian pilgrim Sayed Abdulhalim (45) who lost his elderly uncle, said hours before the stampede members of the Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice were warning pilgrims through loudspeakers that their hajj would be void if they performed the stoning before midday prayers.
According to several Sunni Muslim fatwas (religious edicts) issued in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, pilgrims can perform the ritual from after midday until dawn on Friday.
At the site of the accident, bulldozers removed piles of luggage to clear the way, and a few hours later the scene returned to normal as pilgrims came back to stone the devil.
“We left when the stampede broke out and I just came now with my husband to do it,” said Hiba Mohammed (22).
The stoning of Satan is the riskiest episode of the hajj as the pilgrims jostle to make sure their pebbles touch the pillar.
A total of 251 Muslim pilgrims were trampled to death in 2004 as people panicked during the ritual stoning.
In 2003, 14 pilgrims 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 the pilgrimage was in July 1990 when 1Â 426 pilgrims were trampled or asphyxiated to death in a stampede in a tunnel, also in Mina.
Following a journey made by Prophet Mohammed over 1Â 400 years ago, the pilgrims this year flocked to the plain of Arafat south of Mina on Monday to pray for mercy in the central rite of the hajj.
The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and a once-in-a-life time duty for those able to complete it.
The latest tragedy comes one week after 76 people were killed when a hostel in the heart of Mecca collapsed.
Almost 60Â 000 security, health, emergency and other personnel were involved in organising and securing this year’s hajj. – AFP