Another 863 people were injured in the incident at Mina, which occurred as two million pilgrims were taking part in the Hajj's last major rite.
Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent Abdulrahman Al-Osaimi reporting from Mina emergency hospital said the stampede happened at the entrance of the Jamarat bridge near Street 204, and not inside of the Jamarat area where the stoning pillars are situated.
“The injured have been distributed to four other hospitals in the Mina area. Some of the injured have been evacuated by helicopters to hospitals in Makkah city,” our reporter said.
Saudi Press Agency tweeted a photo of one of the helicopters that are currently transporting the injured to emegency centers in Makkah.
Authorities closed the roads leading up to the Jamarat Bridge, were pilgrims were heading to perform the "stoning of the devil" rituals, were re-opened hours later.
Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent in Mina, Saad Al-Matrafi, has learned that a press conference will be held right after Maghreb, or sunset, prayers where an investigation into the incident will be announced....
alarabiya.net, ctvnews.ca
24/9/15
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The death from a stampede during the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia has risen to 717 with around 805 people injured...
ReplyDeleteRescue operations are under way after the stampede near Mecca, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims were taking part in the last major rite of the hajj.
The crush happened on Street 204 of the camp city at Mina, a few kilometres east of Mecca, where pilgrims stay for several days during the climax of the hajj.
Today is also Eid al-Adha, when Muslims slaughter a sheep and has traditionally been the most dangerous day of hajj because vast numbers of pilgrims attempt to perform rituals at the same time in a single location.
Street 204 is one of the two main arteries leading through the camp at Mina to Jamarat, where pilgrims ritually stone the devil by hurling pebbles at three large pillars.
The pilgrimage, the world's largest annual gathering of people, has been the scene of deadly stampedes in the past, as well as other disasters including tent fires and riots.
However, massive infrastructure upgrades and extensive spending on crowd control technology over the past two decades had made such events far less common.
Some two million people are performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia's al-Ekhbariya television reported.
Saudi Arabia's health minister blamed "undisciplined pilgrims" for the stampede saying the tragedy would not have occurred if they "had followed instructions".
Health Minister Khaled al-Falih was quoted by El-Ekhbariya television as saying "many pilgrims move without respecting the timetables" established by authorities, which was the "principal reason for this type of accident."
"If the pilgrims had followed instructions, this type of accident could have been avoided."............http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0924/729937-haj-mecca/
24/9/15