KARACHI: Four Pakistani pilgrims lost their lives and another three suffered injuries in the Mina tragedy on Thursday, TV reports said, quoting the head of the religious affairs ministry.

Two of the dead were identified by TV reports as Haji Mohammed Arif (Lahore) and Abdul Malik (Mardan) while the website of the Ministry of Religious Affairs identified the other two as Hafsa Shoaib and Naseem.

The website did not provide any other information about the deceased, but one TV report quoted Director General of Haj, Abu Akif, as saying that his two relatives were among the dead. Both belonged to Karachi.

According to the ministry’s website, among the injured were Atiqur Rehman (Lahore), Nasreen Akhtar and Mohammad Younas (Sialkot).

Federal Minister for Religious Affairs Sardar Mohammed Yousuf, according to a TV report, said bodies of four Pakistanis had been brought to Makkah’s Al Noor hospital. He said three Pakistani pilgrims had been injured in the incident.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani Haj mission in Mina released an emergency helpline number (00966125277537) to get information about Pakistani pilgrims.

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2015

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