JEDDAH, 3 September 2006 — The Interior Ministry will deploy special forces to control the flow of pilgrims at Jamrat in Mina during the peak days of Haj. The aim is to avoid stampedes that have killed hundreds of pilgrims in the past few years.
Maj. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the ministry, confirmed that Interior Minister Prince Naif, who is chairman of the Supreme Haj Committee, had ordered the formation of the new force for deployment at Jamrat and Mina streets.
In comments published in Al-Madinah Arabic daily, Al-Turki did not specify the size of the new force but informed sources said a substantial number of specially trained officers would be put in place to prevent stampedes at Jamrat.
“The main objective of the force is to control the traffic of pilgrims in the streets of Mina before they snowball into uncontrollable size and lead to overcrowding and stampedes,” Al-Turki said.
The new force will also prevent squatting of pilgrims in and around the Jamrat bridge and other strategic locations which endangers pilgrims’ safety.
The spokesman said the new force would work hand in hand with special emergency forces as well as Haj Ministry officials to ensure smooth flow of pilgrims.
More than 2.5 million pilgrims including nearly 1.5 million from abroad are expected for Haj this year. Haj Minister Dr. Fouad Al-Farsy has started meetings with foreign Haj delegations to make arrangements for the transportation and accommodation of their pilgrims.
Jamrat, where pilgrims gather in thousands for three days to perform the stoning the devil ritual, has been the scene of several deadly stampedes over the past years. During the last Haj season, more than 360 pilgrims died in a stampede after about 100,000 rushed to the site, having ignored warnings from Saudi officials.
Overcrowdings and stampedes at Jamrat have been a major headache for Saudi Haj managers. In order to solve the problem, the government is currently building a high-tech Jamrat facility. The first phase of the project, which includes the basement, ground floor and first floor, will be ready before the coming Haj.
Some 8,000 employees of the Saudi Binladin Group, which won the SR4.2 billion contract last year, are working round the clock in order to complete the project before the next Haj. The new Jamrat Bridge is designed to carry 250,000 pilgrims an hour.
“The new project includes two helipads which will help in the speedy evacuation of casualties in case of accidents. One of the six towers of the complex will have a large escalator to take ambulances to the top level of the bridge,” said Habeeb Zainul Abideen, deputy minister of municipal and rural affairs.
The new structure will have 10 entrances and 12 exits distributed over the four levels plus the ground floor to accommodate pilgrims coming from different directions. The ground and first floor will be used by pilgrims coming from the east of Mina, which accounts for the bulk of the crowd.
