In Tehran on Friday, thousands of angry protesters Saudi Arabia’s rulers, chanting “death to the al-Saud family”.
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The Turkish leader said that it would be wrong to “point a finger at Saudi Arabia which does its best”, to make the annual hajj pilgrimage possible.
Falih said the injured were being transferred to hospitals in Makkah and if necessary on other parts of the country.
A top Pakistani hajj official in Saudi Arabia says 236 Pakistani pilgrims are missing after a deadly stampede during the pilgrimage.
Abu Ahmed Akif made the comments Friday.
“Many pilgrims move without respecting the timetables” established by the government, which was the “principal reason for this type of accident”, he said. Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has expressed condolences and called for better management of the hajj crowds to prevent future disasters.
As of late Thursday, the Saudi civil defense directorate said the death toll was 719, but that it probably would rise as bodies continued to be counted and sent to the morgue.
About 2 million pilgrims from more than 180 countries took part in this year’s hajj, which ends Saturday.
He said the distance between the scene of the stampede in Mina and the zone for the Malaysian pilgrims’ tents was about three to four kilometres away.
Prayers and protests have been staged amid mounting fury over the deaths of more than 700 worshippers during a stampede at the annual hajj pilgrimage.
Hakim, from Morocco, said: “It is simply scary to hear how people crushed one another”. It was not clear what had caused the stampede.
British Muslim leaders are calling for those going to the pilgrimage to be given compulsory safety training.
In Islamabad, the Pakistani ministry of religious affairs said seven Pakistanis were dead and six were injured.
AP reporter Aya Batrawy, speaking on Thursday’s All Things Considered, said that “from the survivors that I spoke to, they say that for them, it’s pretty clear that the Saudi authorities didn’t manage the crowds properly”.
It was the second major accident this year for pilgrims, after a construction crane collapsed on September 11 at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site, killing 109 people, including many foreigners.
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Pakistan has said that at least 236 of its pilgrims are unaccounted for while both Egypt and India state that 14 of its citizens have been killed. “The Saudi government is required to accept its heavy responsibility for this bitter incident and meet its obligations in compliance with the rule of righteousness and fairness”.
