Hajj stampede death toll rises, 8 Somalis died

MECCA (HOL) —The death toll of Somali pilgrims who were died in a stampede near the Islamic holy city of Mecca on Thursday has risen to eight as Saudi authorities have raised the number of the dead to 769, the deadliest incident to occur during the pilgrimage in 25 years, BBC reported.

Several other Somalis Hajis are missing as the Saudi Kingdom faces a growing criticism on its preparation for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, the world’s largest gathering.

In response to the criticism, Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric, the grand mufti, has said the stampede at the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca on Thursday was beyond human control, according to the BBC.

The identities of the dead Somali pilgrims haven’t so far been identified.  The international media reported a comprehensive figure of the nationalities of the victims from other countries, save for Somalia which hasn’t so far accounted the number of its nationals died in the tragedy.

Thousands of  Somalis attend the annual pilgrimage each year to perform Hajj pilgrimage, the world’s largest annual gatherings once in his life time.

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”.