MINA: Saudi Arabia yesterday suggested pilgrims ignoring crowd control rules bore some blame for a stampede that killed over 700 people at the Haj pilgrimage in the annual event’s worst disaster for 25 years.
The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has ordered a review of Haj plans and Health Minister Khalid Al Falih said the investigation ordered would be conducted rapidly and a final toll of dead and wounded calculated.
At least 863 pilgrims were injured in the disaster, in which two big groups of pilgrims collided at a crossroads in Mina, a few km east of Makkah, on their way to performing the “Stoning of the Devil” ritual at Jamarat.
The stampede “was perhaps because some pilgrims moved without following instructions by relevant authorities,” the minister said in a statement.
Civil Defence service reported on Twitter that a fire had occurred in three storage facilities in Makkah’s Al Maaseem neighbourhood, and 10 fire and rescue units were in attendance. No further details were immediately available.
Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Mansour Turki was quoted in Saudi media yesterday as saying security forces had immediately responded and begun to rescue those who fell in the stampede.
In New York, Pope Francis expressed “my sentiments of closeness” with Muslims. Agencies
