ABC News :
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is “deeply saddened” by the deaths of more than 700 Hajj pilgrims in a huge stampede in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s civil defence service said at least 700 people were killed in the stampede, which broke out as people moved to and from a site where they throw stones at three pillars which symbolise the devil, a ritual known as Jamarat.
At least 863 people were also hurt, the service said.
“The Secretary-General was deeply saddened to learn of the death of more than 700 Hajj pilgrims and of injuries to many others as a result of a deadly incident in the Mina Valley in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” a spokesman for Ban said.
“This tragic incident is all the more distressing as it took place on the first day of the Holy Eid al-Azha
marking the end of the annual Hajj season.”
Pope Francis used his first public remarks since arriving in New York to express solidarity with Muslims after the stampede. “I want to express the closeness of the church in the face of the tragedy people suffered in Mecca,” he said.
Mansour Haghighatpour, Vice-President of Iran’s national security and foreign policy commission, condemned the Saudi administration for its management of the Hajj rituals.
“It is necessary to find a new solution on managing Hajj rituals and the very first step would be to form a truth-finding committee on behalf of all Islamic countries in order to inspect the dimensions of the deadly events,” he told the MNA news agency.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: “My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed at the Hajj pilgrimage.” Footage of the aftermath shows a street doused with water used to cool the victims and row after row of dead bodies on stretchers, waiting to be carried away.
Some survivors look distressed, while others were still dazed by the tragedy. Speaking from a local hospital, an Egyptian woman said her husband had been crushed to death.
“We were coming back from the Jamarat and on the way back,” she said. “I met him [my husband] and he was going to the Jamarat. They [the pilgrims] began pushing each other and they pushed people to the ground. I was about to die.”
The tragedy has embarrassed Saudi Arabia, the official protector and custodian of the holy sites. “The accident, as most know, was a stampede caused by overcrowding and also caused by some of the pilgrims not following the movement instructions of the security and the Hajj Ministry,” Saudi Arabia’s Health Minister Khalid al-Falih said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is “deeply saddened” by the deaths of more than 700 Hajj pilgrims in a huge stampede in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia’s civil defence service said at least 700 people were killed in the stampede, which broke out as people moved to and from a site where they throw stones at three pillars which symbolise the devil, a ritual known as Jamarat.
At least 863 people were also hurt, the service said.
“The Secretary-General was deeply saddened to learn of the death of more than 700 Hajj pilgrims and of injuries to many others as a result of a deadly incident in the Mina Valley in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” a spokesman for Ban said.
“This tragic incident is all the more distressing as it took place on the first day of the Holy Eid al-Azha
marking the end of the annual Hajj season.”
Pope Francis used his first public remarks since arriving in New York to express solidarity with Muslims after the stampede. “I want to express the closeness of the church in the face of the tragedy people suffered in Mecca,” he said.
Mansour Haghighatpour, Vice-President of Iran’s national security and foreign policy commission, condemned the Saudi administration for its management of the Hajj rituals.
“It is necessary to find a new solution on managing Hajj rituals and the very first step would be to form a truth-finding committee on behalf of all Islamic countries in order to inspect the dimensions of the deadly events,” he told the MNA news agency.
Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted: “My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed at the Hajj pilgrimage.” Footage of the aftermath shows a street doused with water used to cool the victims and row after row of dead bodies on stretchers, waiting to be carried away.
Some survivors look distressed, while others were still dazed by the tragedy. Speaking from a local hospital, an Egyptian woman said her husband had been crushed to death.
“We were coming back from the Jamarat and on the way back,” she said. “I met him [my husband] and he was going to the Jamarat. They [the pilgrims] began pushing each other and they pushed people to the ground. I was about to die.”
The tragedy has embarrassed Saudi Arabia, the official protector and custodian of the holy sites. “The accident, as most know, was a stampede caused by overcrowding and also caused by some of the pilgrims not following the movement instructions of the security and the Hajj Ministry,” Saudi Arabia’s Health Minister Khalid al-Falih said.