ISLAMABAD, Feb 1: Thirty-eight Pakistani pilgrims were trampled to death in an stampede while performing the Haj ritual of throwing pebbles at pillars symbolizing the devil in Mina on Sunday, a TV channel said on Sunday night.

However, an official of Religious Affairs Ministry said that according to his information the casualty figure was 28, including 10 women. He said the Pakistanis who had died in the incident had not been identified as the Saudi authorities had cordoned off the hospital where the bodies of the dead pilgrims had been kept.

The Saudi authorities, he said, had not been allowed Pakistani officials and others inside the hospital. Mr Abid said the government of Saudi Arabia had announced that an official list of all pilgrims who had died in the tragic incident would be issued by the hospital authorities.

He said it would not be difficult to identify the pilgrims as they wore a steel bracelet on their wrist which carried their names and passport numbers.