Hiiraan Online
Friday, September 25, 2015
MECCA (HOL) ----Two Somali hajis are among 717 people killed in a stampede near the Islamic holy city of Mecca on Thursday, the deadliest incident to occur during the pilgrimage in 25 years, officials say Friday.
Another Somali pilgrim Sheikh Shamsudin Gobdon is among dozens of missing hajis as the Saudi king Salman ordered an urgent review of this year’s Hajj organisation to avoid a repeated tragedy.
The two dead Somali pilgrims haven’t so far been identified, however, efforts are under way to confirm the exact death toll of Somalis who died in the crush.
The incident occurred at around 6:00 GMT as millions of Muslims were travelling to Mina, a valley which is about 3 miles away from Mecca to throw stones to Jamarat pillars which represent devil which according to Islam tempted Prophet Abraham.
Nearly 20,000 Somalis have attended the annual pilgrimage this year to perform Hajj pilgrimage, the world’s largest annual gatherings once in his life time.
Security has been tightened across Mecca to prevent possible attacks by Jihadist groups and stampedes.
Social media photographs showed hundreds of white-clad bodies piled high on each other as security forces carried wounded victims, some of them crying while other chanted ‘God is great’ into ambulances.
However, the Saudi government is facing a growing criticism over the Mecca deaths as Iran’s supreme National Security Council accused Saudi Arabia of ‘incompetence’ and urged them to ‘take responsibility’ for the deaths, according to the BBC.
The Nigerian government has also dismissed remarks by the Saudi health minister blaming pilgrims for "not following instructions".