Dubai: Three Indians, including two women from Andhra Pradesh, were among the 14 Haj
pilgrims trampled to death on February 11 in a stampede during a ritual "stoning of
the devil" in Mina in Saudi Arabia.
Though the Indian Embassy said two women from Andhra Pradesh – Sarwar Fatima and
Chand Bee – were killed, the official Saudi news agency said three Indians died in
the stampede.
Sources in the Embassy gave their passport number as 27428 and 27429 respectively.
The agency, SPA, said besides three Indians, others killed were four Pakistanis, two
Egyptians, an Iranian and a Yemeni. The rest were yet to be identified.
The number of injured wasn't released, but the agency said two of those who received
moderate injuries remained in the hospital.
The stampede took place at 10.30 am local time (1.00 pm IST) while pilgrims
returning to their camps after the ritual met pilgrims coming the other way. Some
pilgrims fell and were crushed to death.
It quoted Haj security director brigadier Abdel Aziz bin Mohammed bin Said as saying
that as one group of pilgrims finished their ritual stoning and left the site, they
met up with another group, swelling the crowd to dangerous proportions.
"A lot of overcrowding took place, some of them (pilgrims) fell on the ground, which
lead to the death of 14 pilgrims," the agency's report said.
In 2001, 35 people died in a stampede during the devil-stoning ritual. In 1998, 180
died performing the same ritual.
The three-day stoning ritual, marking the first day of Id-ul-Adha and the last stage
of the annual pilgrimage has been a flashpoint for stampedes over the past few years.
Last year's pilgrimage passed off without major incidents, but 35 pilgrims died in a
stampede the previous year.
In 1998, 118 pilgrims were killed and more than 180 injured, while a similar
stampede in 1994 claimed 270 lives.
During the "stoning of Satan", pilgrims hurl seven stones every day for three days
at each of the three 18-metre high concrete pillars that symbolise Satan.
The pillars stand only 155 metres apart and are mobbed as more than two million
pilgrims try to get close amid beefed-up security measures put in place in an effort
to avoid stampedes.
PTI
