Hajj stampede kills more than 700

A stampede killed at least 717 people and injured hundreds more at the hajj in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, in one of the worst-ever tragedies at the annual Muslim pilgrimage. Early reports say Thai pilgrims escaped injury.

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Muslim pilgrims arrive to throw pebbles at pillars during the "Jamarat" ritual, the stoning of Satan, in Mina near the holy city of Mecca, on September 24, 2015. Early reports say Thai pilgrims were on an upper level and were not hurt by the tragedy which occurred at ground level. AFP PHOTO / MOHAMMED AL-SHAIKH

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The Thai Hajj Affairs Office says no Thai pilgrims were killed or injured in the crush that killed more than 700 people at the haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

Friday's story

Hajj stampede kills more than 700

Saudi emergency personnel and Hajj pilgrims push a wounded person in a wheelchair at the site where at least 717 were killed and hundreds wounded in a stampede in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, at the annual hajj in Saudi Arabia on September 24, 2015. The stampede, the second deadly accident to strike the pilgrims this year, broke out during the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual, the Saudi civil defence service said. AFP PHOTO / STR

Mina, Saudi Arabia,  AFP – A stampede killed at least 717 people and injured hundreds more at the hajj in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, in one of the worst-ever tragedies at the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

It was the second deadly accident to hit the pilgrims this month, after a crane collapse in Mecca killed more than 100.

The stampede broke out in Mina during the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual, the Saudi civil defence service said.

Internet video showed bodies in piles, surrounded by discarded personal belongings and flattened water bottles.

In some areas rescue workers laid bodies in long rows on stretchers, limbs protruding from beneath white sheets.

The civil defence said it was still counting the dead, who included pilgrims from different countries.

At least 863 people were hurt, the agency said.
Iran announced that 90 of its nationals were among the dead, and accused Saudi Arabia of safety errors.

King Salman ordered "a revision of the plans" for hajj organisation so that pilgrims can "carry out their rituals in complete safety", the official Saudi Press Agency said.

Nearly two million people from across the globe were attending the hajj, one of the largest annual gatherings in the world.

A Saudi minister blamed the pilgrims for the tragedy, saying they had not followed hajj rules.

"Many pilgrims move without respecting the timetables" set for the hajj, Health Minister Khaled al-Falih told local  television.

"If the pilgrims had followed instructions, this type of accident could have been avoided."

The stampede began at around 9:00 am (0600 GMT), shortly after the civil defence said on Twitter it was dealing with a "crowding" incident in Mina, about five kilometres from Mecca.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had converged on Mina to throw pebbles at one of three walls representing Satan, for the last major ritual of the hajj which officially ends on Sunday.

Saudi emergency personnel stand near bodies of Hajj pilgrims at the site AFP PHOTO / STR

Interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki said 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 New York Times has a good diagram to illustrate this: https://twitter.com/nytimes/status/647224025966641152/photo/1 )

"The great heat and fatigue of the pilgrims contributed to the large number of victims," he said. Temperatures in Mina had reached 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) Thursday.

A Sudanese pilgrim in Mina said this year's hajj was the most poorly organised of four he had attended.

"People were already dehydrated and fainting" before the stampede, said the man, who declined to be named.

People "were tripping all over each other", he said, adding that a Saudi companion had warned him that "something was going to happen".

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