Hundreds of pilgrims killed in Holy city of Mecca

President Uhuru Kenyatta Thursday led Kenyans in mourning the 717 Muslims who perished in a stampede on the outskirts of Mecca, the worst disaster to strike the annual Hajj pilgrimage in 25 years.

President Kenyatta condoled with the Muslim community and wished quick recovery to the more than 800 others who were injured in the tragedy as they performed a stone-throwing ceremony, one of the holiest rites in Islam.

“We mourn with you and are filled with grief at this great loss. On my behalf and on behalf of the Government and people of Kenya, I am sending to you and through you the Muslim fraternity this message of hope and encouragement following the stampede,” he said.

The stampede occurred on a street in Mina, a large valley a few kilometres east of Mecca, where about two million Muslims are performing the annual Hajj. It happened when two large groups of pilgrims arrived together at a crossroads on their way to performing the “stoning of the devil” ritual at Jamarat, Saudi officials said.

There was anxiety as soon as the news was received in Mombasa. Thirteen days ago, a crane collapsed on the Grand Mosque in Mecca and killed more than 100 people among them a Kenyan.

Reports indicate several African Muslims are among those who perished Thursday. Several Muslim organisations in Kenya told The Standard that they were still compiling a report on the approximated 6,000 Kenyan Muslim pilgrims attending this year’s Hajj.

The organisations said many Kenyans had called saying they were unable to reach their relatives in Saudi Arabia owing to communication problems but a section of residents told The Standard that they had been called by their kin to assure them they were safe.

The tragedy struck hours after thousands in Mombasa had converged at several venues, including the local municipal stadium, to mark Eid Al-Adha or the end of the pilgrimage season.

Thursday, the Supreme Council for Kenya Muslims Coast Chairman Sheikh Mohdhar Khitamy said: “There have been numerous inquiries and we are already in touch with the Foreign Affairs ministry for more information.”

And speaking on telephone from Nairobi, Foreign Affairs Director of Diaspora Washington Oloo said they were still trying to establish whether there were any Kenyan fatalities. “We condole with the Saudis and Muslims globally over this sad occurrence,” he said.

Thursday’s disaster was the worst to occur during the pilgrimage since July 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims were crushed to death in a tunnel near Mecca.

Saudi Arabia’s Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef bin Abdelaziz said a committee would carry out an investigation into the disaster, Saudi state television reported.

The ministry spokesman, Mansour Turki said the investigation would look into what caused an unusual density of pilgrims to congregate at the location of the disaster. “The reason for that is not known yet,” he told a news conference in Mina.

Iranian state news agency IRNA said at least 47 Iranians were among the dead.

220 ambulances

The semi-official Fars news agency reported that Tehran summoned the Saudi charge d’affaires to lodge an official complaint over the disaster.

South African Acting President Cyril Ramaphosa extended condolences to families of the victims and said his government was awaiting information about his country’s pilgrims.

Saudi Civil Defence said on its Twitter account more than 220 ambulances and 4,000 rescue workers had been sent in to help the injured. Some of the wounded were evacuated by helicopters.

The hajj, the world’s largest annual gathering of people, has been the scene of numerous deadly stampedes, fires and riots in the past, but their frequency has been greatly reduced in recent years as the government spent billions of dollars upgrading and expanding hajj infrastructure and crowd control technology.

Efforts to improve safety at the Jamarat have included enlarging the three pillars and constructing a three-decker bridge around them to increase the area and number of entry and exit points for pilgrims to perform the ritual.

More than 100,000 police and thousands of video cameras are also deployed to allow groups to be dispersed before they reach dangerous levels of density.

“Please pilgrims do not push one another. Please leave from the exit and don’t come back by the same route,” an officer kept repeating through a loudspeaker at Jamarat.

— Additional reporting by Reuters