Mina stampede deadliest disaster ever to strike Haj, says report

AP Published October 9, 2015

DUBAI: A new tally shows last month's crush and stampede at theHaj was the deadliest event to ever strike the annual pilgrimage.

The Associated Press count Friday shows at least 1,453 people died September 24 in Mina near the holy city of Makkah.

Read: Eight of the deadliest Haj-related accidents over the past 30 years

That figure comes from statements and officials' comments from 19 of the over 180 countries that sent citizens to the five-day annual pilgrimage.

Tweet by Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj

Saudi officials have said their official figure of 769 killed and 934 injured in the disaster remains accurate. Their investigation is ongoing.

The previous deadliest-ever incident happened in 1990, when a stampede killed 1,426 people.

In the Sept 24 disaster, Iran says it had 465 pilgrims killed, while Egypt lost 148 and Indonesia 120.

Others include India with 101, Nigeria with 99, Pakistan with 93, Mali with 70, Bangladesh with 63, Senegal with 54, Benin with 51, Cameroon with 42, Ethiopia with 31, Sudan with 30, Morocco with 27, Algeria with 25, Ghana with 12, Chad with 11, Kenya with eight and Turkey with three.

Also read: At least 107 dead as crane crashes into Masjidul Haram

More than a hundred pilgrims were killed in a crane accident in Makkah's Grand Mosque on September 11, which resulted in the deaths of at least 107 pilgrims.

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muhammad ahmed khan

Oct 09, 2015 04:51pm

The rest of the Islamic countries should hold KSA hold for many lives !!!

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Wondering

Oct 09, 2015 04:51pm

From the claims of survivors it becomes apparent that these people died not as a result of stampede...rather they braved the heat for 3-4 hours and when no help came from Saudi authorities they died as a result of lack of water and extreme heat...bodies remained in Mina till night that day... all this points to the complete breakdown of any system of emergency management that the Saudis may have put in place... with 7000 cameras that were installed in Mina it is extremely disappointing that the Saudis have not been able to identify the cause of the disaster till now or release any supporting evidence for their claims...

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muhammad ahmed khan

Oct 09, 2015 04:52pm

Probably its time to handover Kaba and Haj arrangemetns and earning to committee that should consist of members from various Islamic countries.

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syed imtiaz ahmed

Oct 09, 2015 04:54pm

more than 2000 killed.....UAE is hiding facts

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Wondering

Oct 09, 2015 04:58pm

According to the Saudi health ministry the death toll from the disaster is actually 4173 pilgrims... see the attached news item: http://en.alalam.ir/news/1743768

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Imtiaz

Oct 09, 2015 04:58pm

769 to 1453 and Saudis still counting on fingers?

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A. Ali

Oct 09, 2015 04:59pm

if it was a staged stampede at all .... Iranian should be investigated. else it was a very very unfortunate mishap which took so many lives.

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Irshad Khan

Oct 09, 2015 05:01pm

Relatives of missing Pakistani's in Mina are still waiting to hear for their loved ones. It appears that Pakistan Government is afraid to Ask Saudi Government about missing Pakistani and the whole issue is being covered up.

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M.Saeed

Oct 09, 2015 05:01pm

Rising deaths despite many fold increase in capacity! Time to thing about foolproof system to be devised and adopted. Best would be to divide the ritual of stoning over a much longer period of time with manageable groups of people for each passing.

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Arslan

Oct 09, 2015 05:02pm

Seems Saudis want to play down the figures ... Lives are lost so what's the point in this silly 'our figures are lower' exercise? Admit that administration messed up, and fix the issues to avoid repeat.

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Ijaz

Oct 09, 2015 05:06pm

Saudis are not equipped with the neurons to manage the Haj. They combine arrogance with incompetence a lethal combination

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Muhammad

Oct 09, 2015 05:08pm

The both holy cities should be handed over to joint council of Muslim countries who should manage the affairs of Hajj and Umara

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Syed zafar Kazmi U.S.A

Oct 09, 2015 05:22pm

@A. Ali Why should Iranians be investigated instead of Saudi Arabia on whose land and under whose management it has happened and has happened so many times before and they also are hiding the actual number of casualties which by some estimates of Arab news origin are more than 4000 dead. There are hundreds of the pilgrims still missing. This attitude of shifting the blame reeks of prejudice emanating from sectarianism that Pakistan has suffered so badly and continues to suffer to this day and is busy fighting a war for its existence.

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Mehtab

Oct 09, 2015 05:24pm

Dead figure is more high. Saudi dictators hiding the fact and keep lying.

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raja

Oct 09, 2015 05:31pm

@A. Ali what a ridiculous thought to blame Iran for staging it who herself has the highest death toll in the incident. Grow out of this sick mindset.

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Dr.Arshad

Oct 09, 2015 05:44pm

Just visit Makkah next time and see how the citizens of GCC and western countries are protected and given VIP status.None of those died in this tragic incident belong to these countries which is sufficient enough proof that Saudi Arabia is a racist country whose ruling class believes in apartheid and promotes anti-islam policies.

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Asim

Oct 09, 2015 06:06pm

The number of deceased should be investigated by enquiring from each country that sent the pilgrims. Then we will have a much clearer figure (the number of saudi deceased will still be doubtful). Donot believe the Saudis. The two holy cities are not saudi properties. These should be managed by islamic coalition.

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Rehan

Oct 09, 2015 06:27pm

@muhammad ahmed khan I suppose you have never lived in KSA or any arab state for that matter to own an opinion: handover arrangements of Hajj to Islamic countries. Never!

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Zubair

Oct 09, 2015 06:34pm

It is a dual tragedy that media in major Muslim countries is being coerced in reporting the reality

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Taimoor Khan

Oct 09, 2015 06:41pm

Something has seriously gone wrong this year. The only change from last year is the new regime in Saudi Arabia under new king. First the Yemen debacle and now this. Is it permissible in Islam to have a king/ruler who is not medically fit? King Salman is suffering from dementia. Is he fit enough to understand and remember the event going around him?

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citizen

Oct 09, 2015 06:44pm

Death toll number is increasing day by day which raises concern...When we will get actual figures?

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Zubair

Oct 09, 2015 06:52pm

@Wondering We must remember that smart use of technology also needs "aqal"

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Gururaj B N

Oct 09, 2015 07:25pm

Saudi Arabia should be compelled to pay at least exemplary monetary compensation to the family of the deceased and injured. Many families would have lost their breadwinners. Unless they are forced recompense by way of exemplary damages, the stampedes will become annual ritual. Surprisingly, no country has strongly condemned Saudi Arabia's irresponsible conduct. International community seems to be emasculated.

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Pakistani

Oct 09, 2015 07:38pm

I performed Haj in January 2006 when 360 people died due to stampede. I was right there when the stampede happened. They had barricaded the route to facilitate some Saudi prince. But they didn't stop the flow of Hajis, who were in hundreds of thousands having walked tens of Kilometers for the ritual. When the Saudi prince left and the barricades were removed, people rushed. Some tripped starting the stampede. From some accounts, similar thing happened this year also. Saudis have no regard to true Islamic practices, may be they can perform Haj in some other month. It wouldn't matter to them anyway.

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Abdulrazzak

Oct 09, 2015 07:44pm

@A. Ali How amazing. You don't know whether it was staged or not but you know who to investigate if it was staged. You also seem to know that if it was not staged, then nobody should be hold to account.

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Vicky

Oct 09, 2015 07:55pm

The figures are changing like they are numbers stock market. This is ridiculous and Saudi dictators have to take responsibility of the same. This cannot go on and the lives of innocent people is taken every time during the Haj. All the Muslim countries should come together and find a permanent solution to this increasing menace.

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M. Nisa

Oct 09, 2015 08:18pm

KSA announced compensation of SR 1m and 0.5m respectively for those killed and injured in crane crash soon after the said incident. However, despite lapse of 15 days after the Mina crush - stampede - there is no such announcement of any compensation. What does it mean ? Why compensate crane fall victims only and why not those killed / injured in Mina ? Why this blatant discrimination ? Moreover, our own rulers have also discriminated in promising aid for Mina victims but gave nothing to crane fall victims' heirs. Why so ?

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Najam Chaudhari

Oct 09, 2015 08:21pm

pray for safe haj hereafter..

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Prateek

Oct 09, 2015 08:22pm

It is strange that no Saudi national was killed in the stampede.

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Baaligh

Oct 09, 2015 08:29pm

@Wondering : The Saudis say they are investigating and will make the report public. But when ? perhaps they believe that this issue will die down with the passage of time. In any case it is not so difficult to presume what will the said report say. Most likely it will either put blame on pilgrims themselves or simply conclude that they made excellent arrangements but that it happened due to God's will and thus no fault of theirs. The Saudi Mufti has already termed it as God's will while our own religious minister saheb has also said it was due to pilgrims fault. As to why he had to say this instead of waiting for the awaited investigation report from the horse's mouth is a big puzzle ? Our PM saheb said he - the minister- will remain in SA till all missing persons are found but he came back and chose not to offer any clarification about his early return.

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Baaligh

Oct 09, 2015 08:33pm

@Irshad Khan It appears ? No it is for sure that our rulers being under undue influence of power of petro dollars have no courage to say any thing at all to Saudis. And why our religious minister did not remain in SA to help find the missing Pak pilgrims ? Why should he be not taken to task for this strange attitude ??

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Shaam سے

Oct 09, 2015 08:53pm

Hajj and Umrah should be under the control of "ummat al-Islamiyah" and the holy places be declared independent country from House of Saud - KSA. Every OIC member in turn should run the pilgrimage.

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rehan

Oct 09, 2015 09:39pm

With Saudis forces busy in bombing and killing innocent people in Yemen wedding and other countries. Of course it is difficult to make fool proof arrangements for the safety of hajjis. Nawaz Sharif can not utter a single word about the wrong doings of KSA. KSA protected him from Musharraf prison. NS doesn't care about lost of lives of Pak Hajis in this incident. He may have to use KSA again as exile after leaving office.

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Khurram

Oct 09, 2015 10:14pm

How come no death toll from developed countries? Do they have separate entrance? When countries can independently count up to 1500, how Saudi's are counting 700? Don't they have bodies to count or these bodies disappeared overnight?

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Rashid

Oct 09, 2015 10:20pm

Apparently the stampede happened because the authorities closed one of the two passages so that a saudi prince can perform his hajj easily, and other people were forced to go through only one passage. We can easily open a small business for a poor family with one hajj's money, which in my opinion is better than giving it to the saudis who don't deserve a penny of it.

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samad chaudhry

Oct 09, 2015 10:30pm

Mismanagement and false ego of Arab rulers

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shah

Oct 09, 2015 10:41pm

Govt of Pakistan main concern is not hurting Saudi feelings.

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Shahpur

Oct 09, 2015 11:03pm

I am just surprised why the Lawyers in Muslim Countries dont file liability claims, for wrongful deaths and personal injuries, against Saudis in their own countries. Hajj is a big business. The biggest commercial enterprise for centuries. There must be an accountability.

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Hannan

Oct 09, 2015 11:17pm

@Wondering I was there and I disagree with your claim. They tried their best to provide drinking water for hajis. It's a sad incident and yes there is negligence on Saudi's side. But to say that they didn't care about hajis is wrong.

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Akram J. Kayani

Oct 09, 2015 11:46pm

I was there at the hajj this year, actually left jammarat after doing the stone throwing just 5 mins before the ambulances started vizing past our group towards the jammarat complex. I have seen enough on this hajj tovknow that the Saudi do a great job in trying to manage everything and have seen multiple cases where the hujjaj, especially from south Asian countires pay no heed to their warning and try to jump over barricades, create blockages on path ways because they want to go through a certain path even when the authorities are asking them not to. This kind of things will happen when the crowd will act without discipline and not pay heed to rules put into place for their own safty.

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Light

Oct 10, 2015 12:24am

I performed hajj This year, overall arrangements were good. Saudi Govt need to do "Summer Hajj Readiness". In extreme heat, mineral water and electrolytes should be provided. Cooler fans should be placed all along the paths, More Rest rooms/toilets needed from Muzdalifa to Mina and adequate transportation. Next 15 years hajj will be in Summer heat. Get ready and plan now. Most of the people might have died of lack of body minerals etc. Only plain water in not going to provide body required minerals and electrolytes. Hajj groups should also need to provide adequate training and resources to coupe with extreme heat.

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Oct 10, 2015 03:13am

@Prateek Strange still, none from the 'white' countries!

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Zakeem

Oct 10, 2015 03:36am

Why is it that our media is not discussing the cause of the stampede or calling out anyone in the Saudi government or Saudi family?

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salman

Oct 10, 2015 05:36am

@A. Ali iranians suffered the biggest loss. Saudi government should be investigated for criminal offence against the hajis

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