Egypt, Iran, Pakistan identify more victims from hajj crush
Iran, Egypt and Pakistan said Sunday they had identified dozens more bodies from a crush of Muslim pilgrims three days ago that killed more than 700 people during the hajj in Saudi Arabia.
Iran’s state TV raised the death toll for Iranian pilgrims from 155 to 169. More than 300 Iranians are still missing and around 100 were wounded in Thursday’s incident.
The largest number of casualties identified thus far is from Iran, which has accused Saudi Arabia of mismanaging the annual pilgrimage and has vowed to take legal action against it.
Saudi authorities say at least 769 people died when two large waves of pilgrims converged on a narrow road Thursday during the final days of the annual hajj. Survivors say the crowding caused people to suffocate and eventually trample one another.
The hajj this year drew some 2 million pilgrims from 180 countries, though in previous years it has drawn more than 3 million without any major incidents. Able-bodied Muslims are required to perform the five-day pilgrimage once in their lifetime, and each year poses a massive logistical challenge for the kingdom.
For the third straight day, Iranians protested outside the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, chanting against the ruling Al Saud family that oversees the pilgrimage. Protesters chanted “I’ll kill those who killed my brothers!” and demanded the embassy be shut down.
Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are fiercely divided on a host of regional issues, and back opposite sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s Minister of Religious Endowments Mohammed Mokhtar Gomaa told the state-run Middle East News Agency that 55 Egyptian citizens are among the dead. He said another 120 Egyptian pilgrims are still missing and 26 are receiving treatment for injuries sustained during the disaster near the holy city of Mecca.
Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs said Sunday that 36 Pakistanis were killed in the incident, double an earlier death toll. The ministry said 35 Pakistanis were injured in the incident.
Source: The Associated Press
