Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, who chairs the Saudi hajj committee, ordered the probe during a meeting with senior officials responsible for the pilgrimage in Mina, where the stampede took place.
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He said Haj was compulsory for every Muslim, if he or she could afford it, so it was obvious that lakhs of people would reach there every year for the pilgrimage.
Stay with WPRI.com and Eyewitness News This Morning for more details on this breaking story.
Reports allege 43 Iranian nationals were among those who died on the Eid al-Adha holiday. “Mismanagement and improper actions have caused this catastrophe”, Khamenei said in a statement published on his website.
In the ritual, crowds of pilgrims throw stones at three pillars in a re-enactment of when the Prophet Abraham stoned the devil and rejected his temptations, according to Muslim traditions.
A well-known Muslim writer says she’s horrified to hear about the deaths of hundreds of Muslims during this year’s pilgrimage to Mecca.
At least 717 people have been confirmed dead and many hundreds more have been injured.
On September 11, just days before this year’s Hajj started, a construction crane crashed through the roof of another eminent Hajj destination, the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing 107 people.
At least 717 pilgrims died while another 805 were wounded in a stampede during the stoning of Satan at Mina, the Saudi civil defence said.
On Thursday, more than 700 people were killed and 863 were injured in a stampede near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, with the death toll expected to rise.
A sudden surge in the number of pilgrims heading to Jamarat for symbolic stoning of the devil by throwing pebbles against three stone walls resulted in the stampede at 9 am local time (1130 IST), the state-run Saudi Press Agency said.
Thursday’s disaster was the worst to occur at the pilgrimage since July 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims were crushed to death in a tunnel near Mecca.
It was the second major accident during this year’s hajj season.
Saudi Arabia takes great pride in its role as the caretaker of Islam’s holiest sites and host to millions of pilgrims annually.
The stampede was the deadliest disaster at the hajj since 2006, when more than 360 pilgrims were killed in a stampede in the same area.
The Civil Defense service released the toll and said rescue operations were under way after the stampede in Mina.
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No Malaysians are involved in the haj pilgrims stampede in Mina during the “stoning of the devil” ritual today, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki.
