Over 450 Dead, 800 Injured in Stampede at Hajj: Saudi Media
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – More than 450 pilgrims were killed and nearly 800 others injured Thursday in a stampede during Hajj pilgrimage rituals outside the holy city of Mecca, Saudi civil defense said.
The pilgrims were killed in a crush at Mina, outside the holy city, where some two million Muslims are performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage, Saudi media reported.
It came nearly two weeks after tens of Hajj pilgrims were killed in another tragic incident in Mecca.
On September 11, a massive construction crane crashed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque in stormy weather, killing at least 107 people and injuring 201 others.
Saudi authorities have been blasted for their failure to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who converge on Mecca for Hajj every year.
Large-scale deadly accidents during Hajj have occurred on a number of occasions in years past.
In 2006, more than 360 pilgrims died in a stampede at the desert plain of Mina, near Mecca. A crush of pilgrims two years earlier left 244 dead.
The worst Hajj-related tragedy was in 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims died in a stampede in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to holy sites in Mecca.