What do you expect from a 6th century nomadic desert cult...

Stampede near Saudi holy city kills more than 700 on hajj pilgrimage

By Loveday Morris, Sarah Kaplan and Brian Murphy

A stampede among Muslim worshipers near the Saudi holy city of Mecca left more than 700 people dead and hundreds more injured Thursday at the height of the annual hajj pilgrimage — the backdrop for similar tragedies in past decades.

One survivor said people toppled “like dominoes” before being trampled or suffocated.

A statement from Saudi Arabia’s civil defense agency said at least 717 people were killed in the tumult in Mina, a desert plain about three miles from central Mecca and the temporary encampment for huge numbers of pilgrims.

The death toll — which could still rise — already marks the highest loss of life during the hajj in 25 years and will likely put further pressure on Saudi authorities to implement security and crowd-control measures for the millions of pilgrims each year.

At least 863 people were injured, said Saudi officials.

The deaths come just two weeks after a crane collapsed on the main mosque at Mecca, leaving more than 100 dead and injuring hundreds more.

The reasons for the stampede were not immediately clear. Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, ordered a probe in Mina, the official Saudi Press Agency reported

In the Saudi capital, Riyadh, King Salman also told senior officials to “redouble their efforts” to expand services and care for hajj pilgrims, the agency said.

Highly crowded Mina has been the site of other deadly crushes over the years. The area is the site of a hajj ritual to commemorate the stoning of the devil by the prophet Abraham, known in Arabic as Ibrahim.

The nationalities of the victims was not yet known, but the hajj draws Muslims from every corner of the world. Social media posts included messages of concern and prayers for relatives missing in Mina: Pakistanis, Malaysians, Indonesians and others.

Local media reports around the world began to fill out the origins of some of the dead, including Bangladesh and India.

Nearly 2 million pilgrims attended this year, according to Saudi authorities, including 1.4 million foreigners.

Images from Mina showed rescue workers performing chest compressions and other first aid on exhausted pilgrims — dressed in the simple white wraps worn during the hajj — who apparently collapsed from the heat or the crush of people. Dozens more bodies were placed on stretchers, covered in white sheets or blankets.

“I thought I was going to die,” 56-year-old Radhi Hassan, a pilgrim from Iraq who was caught in the crush, said by phone. “I pushed people and was able to drag myself out.”

Worshipers were rushing to finish the ritual before the heat of the day set in, he said.

“Two elderly people fell to the ground, and then there was chaos,” he said. “Thousands of people were trying to push through and stumbling and falling to the ground like dominoes. People were stepping on other people, and many people suffocated.”

More than 4,000 emergency workers and 220 ambulances rushed to the scene, Saudi Arabia’s civil defense agency said in a statement.

Thursday also marks the Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, which takes place during the peak days of the pilgrimage each year.

The stampede took place at 9 a.m. near the area where pilgrims gather for the stoning ritual, Saudi civil defense said. During the ceremony, pilgrims fling pebbles at one of three pillars representing the devil. Due to the large crowds it attracts, the rite is considered one of the most dangerous parts of the pilgrimage.

During the hajj, Mina also is transformed into a vast encampment, where hundreds of thousands of pilgrims shelter in air conditioned tents during days crowded with ceremonies.

The complex in which the ritual takes place was expanded in 2006 after more than 360 people were trampled to death in Mina. Two years earlier, a crush there claimed 250 lives.

The five-story structure enables pilgrims to stone pillars from multiple levels at once, allowing for around 300,000 people to pass through each hour. The site is equipped with closed-circuit television cameras and helipads, designed to allow speedy intervention in the case of a tragedy.

In 1990, about 1,400 pilgrims were suffocated or trampled to death during a stampede in a pedestrian tunnel leading out of the city — one of the worst disasters in the modern history of the pilgrimage.

In the wake of such incidents, pilgrims have demanded that the Saudi government do more to regulate the flow of people into and out of Mecca or limit the numbers permitted to take part.

Among the first suggestions of failings by Saudi Arabia came from its main regional, Iran. In Tehran, the head of Iran’s hajj agency, Said Ohadi, claimed on state television that Saudi security blockades of two pilgrim routes in Mina could have magnified the disaster.

“Saudi officials should be held accountable,” Ohadi said.