Both Iran and the Saudis see themselves as leaders in the Muslim world.
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The disaster was the second deadly accident to mar the Haj.
The worst disaster to befall the pilgrimage in a quarter of a century occurred on Thursday as two large groups of pilgrims arrived together at a crossroads in Mina, a few kilometres outside the holy city. That followed an accident September 11 in which a storm toppled a crane at the Grand Mosque in Mecca that killed 111 people.
Falih said an investigation has been opened into the fatal stampede and that results would be made public. The incident took place on the first day of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice. In one of the final steps of the hajj, pilgrims throw stones at three large pillars in a symbolic casting away of evil.
“It’s unfortunately a very tragic incident and we extend our condolences to the family of the victim”, Valte said. He escaped the crush of bodies because he was at the head of a procession.
However, they said security had improved and the crowd was smaller.
A Saudi security guard sprays water over pilgrims to cool them down…
At least 769 people were killed in a stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday, according to Saudi state-run SPA news agency.
Secretary General of Iran’s Red Crescent Society Ali Asqar Ahmadi said Saudi Arabia is not issuing permits for a special flight to return the injured Iranian pilgrims, saying it was the reason why the injured pilgrims have not been returned home for medical treatment.
Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia are bitter rivals whose relations are already strained by regional conflicts from Syria to Yemen.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accused Iran of playing politics with the tragedy.
“These incidents, they do not conform to the normal parameters” of religious pilgrimages or rites, Rouhani said, and the authorities could be viewed as “not sufficiently responsible to be hosting” such large groups of people.
“We are thankful to our brothers in Saudi Arabia for this effort”, Abdullah Ali, a 38-year-old Emirati said in Mina.
A spokesperson told The Independent that the Government’s “thoughts and prayers” were with those affected, adding: “Staff are working closely with Saudi Arabian authorities checking hospitals and other locations”. “The Al-Saud must be responsive”, Ebrahim Raisi, Iran’s state prosecutor, told state TV, referring to Saudi Arabia’s ruling family. “A lot of them couldn’t make it”, Abubakar said.
King Salman, whose official title is “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques” in Mecca and Medina, also ordered “a revision” of how the hajj is organized. He previously served as the kingdom’s hajj minister.
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For years, the hajj was marred by stampedes and fires, but it had been largely incident-free for nine years after safety improvements and billions of dollars worth of infrastructure investment.
