HOLY SITES: Prince Faisal bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, chairman of the Saudi Red Crescent, said that 166 ground, air and alert teams of the Red Crescent dealt with accident cases from the incident in Mina.

The first response units, he said, arrived within seven minutes of receiving the report, according to an online newspaper.

He said the state of readiness has been lifted, and the stampede of Haj pilgrims which happened on Thursday on Street 204 in Mina has been categorized as “tragedy.”

All rescue teams present in Makkah were called in addition to other support to cover the incident.

Red Crescent teams shifted more than 70 percent of cases.

Prince Faisal bin Abdullah lauded the efforts made by government agencies which participated in the operation with the Red Crescent showing their complete coordination in the service of the Haj pilgrims. The Red Crescent has issued a statement saying that it had announced a “red card” and declared it as a collective tragedy to shift serious cases to the hospitals of the Holy Sites and Makkah.

It also called all its air ambulances to deal with the cases.

The Red Cross said that first information it received was at 9:44 a.m. and their operations were completed at 3:16 p.m.

The first rescue team reached the incident site at 9:50 a.m.

Motorcycle teams dealt with 20 cases; the advanced response teams 50 cases; air relief more than 30 cases after taking them from ambulances and them shifting them to hospitals.