TEHRAN: The body of a senior Iranian diplomat missing since the hajj stampede in Saudi Arabia in September has been identified, Iranian media said on Wednesday, quashing speculation he was kidnapped.

The corpse of Iran’s former ambassador to Lebanon, Ghazanfar Roknabadi, 49, was identified through DNA tests, the ISNA news agency reported citing reliable sources.

“My brothers travelled to Saudi Arabia and after seeing his body announced they have identified him,” the ex-diplomat’s brother, Morteza, was quoted by the state television website as saying.

Roknabadi’s body will be repatriated on Thursday, he added. Iranian media did not give details of how and when he died.

Roknabadi was attending this year’s Haj when the stampede broke out.

More than 2,200 people, including 464 Iranians, were killed, according to tallies given by foreign officials, in what was the deadliest disaster in the pilgrimage’s history by far.

Until last year, Roknabadi was Tehran’s envoy to Beirut, a highly sensitive post.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2015