MINA, 12 February 2003 — Fourteen pilgrims, including seven women, were killed and several others slightly injured in a stampede on Souk Al-Arab Street yesterday morning.
This was announced by Brig. Abdul Aziz Saeed, head of the command and control center in Mina.
He said the stampede occurred about 10.30 a.m.
Saeed identified some of the dead as four Pakistanis, three Indians, two Egyptians, one Sudanese, one Iranian and one Yemeni. Arab News has learned that two of the Indian victims came from Andhra Pradesh. Their names are Sarwar Fatima and Chand Bee. The third Indian victim was identified as Mrs. Khalida Mohammad, wife of Farouk Patel from Malegaon, Maharashtra.
Female casualties included three Indians, one Pakistani, one Egyptian, one Sudanese and an Iranian.
The injured were treated at a nearby hospital. All, except two, were later discharged.
The stampede occurred 350 meters west of Prince Abdullah Bridge, two kilometers east of Jamrat Al-Aqaba, while a large number of pilgrims were returning to their tents after performing the stoning ritual.
“They ran into pilgrims moving en masse from Muzdalifa heading westward on their way to perform the stoning ritual,” Saeed said in a press statement.
He added that security forces had created adequate space in the area for the smooth passage of pilgrims, by diverting cars and buses.
“But because of the overcrowding a number of pilgrims fell, resulting in the death of 14 of them,” the statement added.
Eyewitnesses blamed the tragedy on pilgrims squatting on the streets leading to the Jamrat.
“Some pilgrims came directly from Muzdalifa with all their belongings and, despite instructions to the contrary, began piling their bags and bundles on the streets. As thousands of pilgrims surged forward in the morning rush, this mound of belongings and sleeping pilgrims blocked them. Pushing and shoving quickly began. Pilgrims reclining against the bundles facing the Jamrat were unaware of the advancing crowd. Jostled and overwhelmed by the oncoming mass of humanity they began to fall and were trampled. The injured began crying out and panic took over,” said Haneef Fahim, a Pakistani pilgrim.
The three-day stoning ritual, which marks the first day of Eid Al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) and the last stage of the annual Haj, has been a flashpoint for stampedes over past years.
Last year’s pilgrimage passed off without major incidents, but 35 pilgrims died in a stampede the previous year. In 1998, 118 pilgrims were killed and more than 180 injured, while a similar stampede in 1994 claimed 270 lives.
During the “Stoning of Satan,” pilgrims hurl seven stones every day for three days at each of the three 18-meter high concrete pillars that symbolize “Satan.”
The pillars stand only 155 meters apart and are mobbed as more than two million pilgrims try to get close to them.
