MINA, 2 February 2004 — The Mina stampede touched almost every nationality yesterday as frantic relatives sought news of their nearest and dearest who were missing.
They were seen making inquiries at police stations, hospitals and their respective diplomatic missions.
Until late last night, with bodies still unidentified, neither the authorities nor the various diplomatic missions were able to name many of the dead.
According to officials, 244 people were killed in the stampede at Jamrat and an identical number injured. This was the only information put out by the authorities. After that, there were no further announcements, adding to the confusion.
In a bid to discover the break down of the casualties, Arab News contacted diplomatic personnel, but many of them were totally in the dark, other than the Indian and Pakistani missions.
An Indian Consulate General official confirmed that three Indians had died in the stampede: Muhammad Ali from Kerala, Ghulam Muhammad Mir from Kashmir, and Mohammad Mohiuddin, 56, from West Bengal.
Pakistani officials initially reported 10 dead and six injured but by late evening had revised the figures to 36, 28 of them men and eight women. They expect the figure to rise as many of the pilgrims in the vicinity of the Jamrat at the time of the disaster were reported to be from Pakistan.
A Sri Lankan diplomat visited the Arab News office in Mina to inquire whether any Sri Lankan was among the casualties. A French official also inquired if the paper had any details of the dead.
