Hajj Stampede: Witnesses Blame Saudi Officials

The worst tragedy in 25 years at the annual Muslim pilgrimage occurred on Thursday during the symbolic stoning of the devil at Mina, just outside the holy city of Mecca, The Guardian reported.

“There was crowding. The police had closed all entrances and exits to the pilgrims’ camp, leaving only one,” said Ahmed Abu Bakr, a 45-year-old Libyan who escaped the stampede with his mother.

“I saw dead bodies in front of me and injuries and suffocation. We removed the victims with the police.”

He added that police at the scene appeared inexperienced. “They don’t even know the roads and the places around here,” he said as others nodded in agreement.

“They don’t have a clue how to engage with these people,” said Irfan al-Alawi, co-founder of the Mecca-based Islamic heritage research foundation. “There’s no crowd control.”

Another witness, 39-year-old Egyptian Mohammed Hasan, voiced worries that a similar incident “could happen again”. “You just find soldiers gathered in one place doing nothing,” he said.

He also said that he had been insulted because of his nationality, when security men asked him to “come identify this Egyptian corpse”.

“Why are they humiliating us like this? We are coming as pilgrims asking for nothing,” Hasan said angrily, urging the security forces to “organize the roads” to ensure the smooth movement of people.

Even before Thursday’s stoning tragedy, other pilgrims had complained of a lack of organization.

An interior ministry spokesman, General Mansur al-Turki, claimed the stampede was caused when “a large number of pilgrims were in motion at the same time” at an intersection of two streets in Mina. “The great heat and fatigue of the pilgrims contributed to the large number of victims,” he said.

And one Saudi minister blamed the pilgrims for the tragedy, saying they had not followed Hajj rules.

But in the view of an Egyptian worshipper who identified himself only by his first name, Ahmed, “the fault is not on the pilgrims”.

“Saudi Arabia is spending a lot on Hajj but there is no organization,” he said, complaining that the flow of people into and out of the tent camp needed to be better managed.

“They could make one road for those going and another for those returning,” Ahmed said. “If one policeman would stand at the start of every road and organize the pilgrims, none of this would happen.”

The stoning ritual is supposed to continue on Friday and Saturday.