Mina (Saudi Arabia): Two hundred and forty-four people were trampled to death and the same number injured today (Feb 1, 2004) in this valley near Mecca as pilgrims jostled to stone a pillar representing the devil, Haj Minister Iyad Madani said.

The Minister gave the official toll in a press conference hours after the stampede, an ever-present threat during the annual Haj pilgrimage which sees some two million Muslims flock to the holy sites in Saudi Arabia.

Despite the large number of deaths, the last important rite of the pilgrimage was continuing today.

Last year, 14 pilgrims, including six women, were killed in a stampede during the first day of the stoning ritual and 35 in 2001, while the 1998 Haj saw 118 killed and more than 180 hurt at Mina.

The worst toll of the pilgrimage was in July 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims were trampled or asphyxiated to death in a stampede in a tunnel, also in Mina.