Hajj stampede in Mina; 345 killed

"I heard screaming, and I looked around and saw people jumping over each other. Police came and cordoned off the area. They starting pulling out bodies. The bodies were piled up. I couldn't count them, they were too many," Suad Abu Hamada, an Egyptian pilgrim, told The Associated Press.

"I saw people moving and suddenly I heard crying, shouting, wailing," said Abdullah Pulig, an Indian street cleaner who had travelled to Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage. "I looked around and people were piling on each other. They started pulling dead people from the crowd."

"It was like the road of death there," a pilgrim.

How sad this tragedy. CNN reported that at least 345 people was killed in a stampede during a symbolic stoning ritual at the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.

According to the country's Health Minister Hamad al-Maneh, who told Saudi TV, 289 others were injured in the stampede near Mecca and taken to the hospital.

The cause of the stampede?
Some pilgrims tripped over dropped luggage, causing the pileup.

This is the second tragedy in this years hajj season. At least 76 people - mostly pilgrims - were killed last week when a hotel collapsed near the Grand Mosque in central Mecca. It is still unclear what caused the small building to crumble onto the streets packed with pilgrims.

But stampedes are a regular feature in this holy city. What do you expect when about 3 million pilgrims gather in a small place to fulfill their utmost duty as a Muslim in a 6-day pilgrimage.

History of stampedes:

1990 - the worst in recent years when 1,426 pilgrims were trampled to death.
2001 - 35 killed.
2003 - 36 killed.
2004 - 251 killed.

The Saudi government has taken steps to put an end to this but without success.

But all these failed simply because the pilgrims ignore all the rules. In their haste to complete their holy duty, somehow they have discarded their safety.

So how do we overcome this then? Extra precautionary methods? Change the annual quota system of pilgrims? Put an age-limit for pilgrims?

Whatever it is, something must be done, not just by the Saudi government, but by all Muslim nations to address this problem.

Pilgrims who come to fulfill their holy duty must be allowed to do so without the fear of being crushed to death by others who are there for the same reason.

Visit my other blog here