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Saudis, pilgrims trade blame over hajj disaster

Saudi Arabia blamed unruly pilgrims on Friday for the crush that killed 362  people in the hajj, but many Muslims said better security could have averted the disaster.
At least 345 Muslim Pligrims Die in Saudi Arabia
Muslim pilgrims circle around the holy Kabba on Thursday during the hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia.Muhannad Fala'ah / Getty Images
/ Source: Reuters

Saudi Arabia blamed unruly pilgrims on Friday for the crush that killed at least 362 people in the hajj, but many Muslims said better security could have averted the worst disaster to befall the ritual in 16 years.

The pilgrims were crushed on the last day of the hajj at the disaster-prone Jamarat Bridge in Mena, a narrow valley near the holy city of Mecca, as they jostled to perform a stoning ritual in the early afternoon.

The legitimacy of Saudi Arabia’s ruling house rests in the eyes of many Muslims on its ability to host some 2.5 million hajj pilgrims from all over the world every year.

“The state has made every effort and done everything it should,” the kingdom’s top cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh said on state television, accusing pilgrims of being disorderly.

Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, as well as the kingdom’s interior minister, also blamed pilgrims who defied the rules and carried their belongings with them and ignored advice to perform the ritual throughout the day.

“It pains us that so many people died, but we must point out that the security forces averted many more disasters from happening and saved many lives,” the state news agency SPA quoted Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz as saying.

Saudi Arabia raised the death toll from 345 to 362 on Friday.

Nationalities of fatalities unclear
Saudi Arabia has not announced the nationalities of the dead pilgrims, but India said at least 27 of its citizens were killed in the crush. Indonesia reported two of its pilgrims had died and Pakistan said it knew of six fatalities so far.

“The Saudis are saying that most of those killed are Indians, Bangladeshis and Afghans, but I think there might be at least 30 to 40 Pakistanis among the dead,” said Vakil Ahmad Khan, permanent secretary at Pakistan’s Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Many pilgrims insist on following Prophet Mohammad’s example of stoning after noon prayers instead of staggering the ritual throughout the day as some clerics recommend. Saudi clerics who follow the strict Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam have in the past advised stoning after noon.

But some pilgrims said the authorities had failed to impose their own rules on the ritual, which has seen similar deadly stampedes in the past.

Pilgrims in disarray
In 2004, some 250 pilgrims were crushed to death at Jamarat Bridge. A decade earlier, 270 were killed in a similar stampede. Thursday’s death toll was the highest since 1,426 people were killed in a stampede in a tunnel in Mecca in 1990.

A doctor tends to a wounded Muslim pilgr
A doctor tends to a wounded Muslim pilgrim at a hospital following a stampede at the eastern entrance of the Jamarat bridge,\" where the pilgrims stone three pillars symbolizing the devil in the valley of Mina, east of the holy city of Mecca, 12 January 2006. At least 345 Muslim pilgrims were trampled to death as they tripped over luggage in a scramble to hurl pebbles at symbols of Satan during the annual pilgrimage, Saudi officials said. AFP PHOTO/BEHROUZ MEHRI (Photo credit should read BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)Behrouz Mehri / AFP

“There seemed to be more security forces this year but they were not very organized or had any plan,” said 28-year-old Jihad from Egypt.

“Security forces should have concentrated their efforts on removing squatters. This year, they seemed to let them slide by,” said Yasser Bakir, 39, also from Egypt.

Witnesses also said the tragedy was caused as the flow of pilgrims entering and leaving the Jamarat bridge clashed, ignoring instructions on huge noticeboards, loudspeakers and pamphlets on how to perform the rites.

“What’s the reason for what happened, that’s the question that must be answered,” wrote columnist Raqiya Shabib in the Saudi-owned al-Hayat newspaper.

“For this not to happen again the organization has got to be rethought at the Jamarat area in particular.”

The Interior Ministry said before the five-day hajj, a duty for every able-bodied Muslim at least once a lifetime, that it would stop pilgrims squatting with their belongings by the side of the Jamarat Bridge.

Officials say that around 300,000 Muslims who are already resident in Saudi Arabia slip into the Mecca area to join the some two million pilgrims taking part.

This year’s hajj had already been marred by the collapse of a Mecca hostel that killed 76 people last week.