220 ambulances and 4,000 rescue workers were deployed in the field for emergency treatment of the victims of the crush.
The crush happened in Mecca’s neighborhood of Mina, which
traditionally provides temporary accommodation for hundreds of thousands
of pilgrims. The ritual of the ‘Stoning of the Devil’ is performed in a
valley surrounding the neighborhood on the night before last day of the
Hajj.
The stampede happened in a street separating two pilgrim camps, Al Jazeera reported from the scene.
"The street is named Street 204. This stampede did not
happen during the Stoning of the Devil ritual, which was happening
today," correspondent Basma Atassi said.
Street 204 is one of the two main arteries in Mina leading
through the camp at Mina to Jamarat Bridge, where the Stoning of the
Devil ritual is performed.
The incident happened near an exit from a monorail train
station near the tent camps. The camp sector houses pilgrims from Gulf
nations, who apparently are the majority among the victims.
Muslims worldwide are celebrating on Thursday the holy day
of Eid al-Adha. An estimated 2 million pilgrims traveled to Mecca for
the celebration.
Just two weeks ago over a hundred people were killed in
Mecca when a construction crane fell on the crowded Grand Mosque. The
worshipers had gathered in the city ahead of this year’s Hajj.
Mina has seen a number of fatal stampedes over the years. In
1990 over 1,400 pilgrims died in a stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel
leading out of Mecca towards Mina, one of the most catastrophic of such
incidents.
A number of stampedes happened on the Jamarat Bridge. The
death of almost 350 pilgrims in 2006 finally prompted Saudi Arabia to
conduct reconstruction of the bridge to avoid such tragedies.
Post a Comment