ISLAMABAD, Feb 16: Eighty Pakistani pilgrims died in Saudi Arabia this year against the last three years’ average of 170.

Speaking to Dawn, Haj affairs incharge of religious ministry, Muhammad Azam Rathore, said on Sunday that about 510 Pakistani pilgrims had lost their lives in the last three years during Haj with per year average of 170.

Though this year around 135,000 Pakistanis, the highest ever, went for the Haj, the number of deaths remained low.

The official recalled that no Pakistani pilgrim died among the 14 who lost their lives in Mina stampede while stoning the Satan. But the same day four Pakistanis were killed in other incidents in Saudi Arabia.

However, international media and Pakistan Television had announced that those four Hujjaj, including two women, were died at Mina.

He said that four or five Pakistani pilgrims died every day during Haj due to several causes. Similarly four Pakistanis had breathed their last in separate incidents the day the stampede occurred in Mina.

He elaborated that two women were killed in a bus accident.