The death toll of Hajj stampede near the Islamic holy city
of Mecca on Thursday has risen to 769, the deadliest incident to occur during
the pilgrimage in 25 years, BBC reported.
As well as the fatalities, 934 people were injured.
The incident occurred at around 6:00 GMT as millions of
Muslims were travelling to Mina, a valley which is about 3 miles away from
Mecca to throw stones to Jamarat pillars which represent devil which according
to Islam tempted Prophet Abraham.
Security has been tightened across Mecca to prevent possible
attacks by Jihadist groups and stampedes.
Social media photographs showed hundreds of white-clad
bodies piled high on each other as security forces carried wounded victims,
some of them crying while other chanted ‘God is great’ into ambulances.
Iran’s supreme National Security Council accused
Saudi Arabia of ‘incompetence’ and urged them to ‘take responsibility’ for the
deaths, according to the BBC.
The Nigerian government has also dismissed remarks by the
Saudi health minister blaming pilgrims for "not following instructions".
Earlier, the country's
most senior cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin-Abdullah al-Sheikh,
defended the authorities, saying the stampede was "beyond human
control".
King Salman has ordered a
safety review into the disaster.
The disaster is the second
to strike in two weeks, after a crane collapsed at the Grand Mosque in Mecca,
killing 109 people.
Saturday was the final day
of the Hajj, with no further incidents reported.
Deaths reported so far by
nationality
Iran: at least 140
Morocco: 87 (media
reports)
Cameroon: at least 20
Niger: at least 19
India: 18
Pakistan: 18
Egypt: 37
Chad: 11
Somalia: 8 (media reports)
Senegal: 5
Algeria: 4
Tanzania: 4
Turkey: 4
Indonesia: 3
Kenya: 3
Nigeria: 3
Netherlands: 1
Burundi: 1
Burkina Faso: 1
Other nationalities
(numbers not yet known): Benin
Saudi helplines: 00966
125458000 and 00966 125496000
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