Presenting a report in the Senate about the tragedy at Mina in Saudi Arabia, Pakistani Minister of State for Religious Affairs Pir Aminul Hasnat said 47 Pakistani pilgrims were also injured.
Advertisement
It was the second major accident this year for pilgrims, after a construction crane collapsed on September 11 at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, killing over 100 people, including 11 Indians.
This year, the Indonesian government had sent as many as 168.8 thousand Hajj pilgrims to the Muslim holy lands of Mecca and Madinah.
The Hajj, or Islamic pilgrimage, is one of Islam’s five pillars; it is a once in a lifetime obligation on Muslims who can bear the ritual physically and financially.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said following the incident that Saudi Arabia would meet a harsh response if not respecting Iran and the Iranian pilgrims.
The stampede resulted in at least 717 pilgrims being killed while at least 863 others were injured.
The three dead Hajj pilgrims were identified as Nining Irianingsih Harun, Kusnadi Adi Wijaya, and Djaspandi Mortadji Irsyad.
According to the Mufti, more details about the missing pilgrims will be revealed to the public soon when the exercise of identifying them was complete. It could have lessened the agony which relations of victims were subjected to if authorities had promptly taken advantage of modern technology by posting portrait photographs of dead pilgrims on the internet.
“We ask [that the Saudi government] immediately issue a list of the names of victims who have had their fingerprints scanned, especially those from Indonesia,” he said, underlining that he was confident that Saudi officials had kept such records.
Advertisement
“The objective of my visit is to sensitize the Saudi government to the need to focus on finding the missing pilgrims”, he told reporters at a press conference in Jeddah. The Saudi Arabian authorities which has the responsibility of organizing and coordinating the annual exercise could among other measures re-examine the number of worshippers that should perform Hajj yearly.
