717 dead in crush near Mecca during hajj pilgrimage

The death toll in a stampede outside Mecca has risen to 717, with at least 800 injured, the deadliest disaster on the annual hajj pilgrimage in over a quarter of a century.

The crush happened in the Mina valley, a few miles outside Mecca, where a sprawling camp of 160,000 tents fills with millions of visitors for a few days each year.

Tragedy hit when two large groups of pilgrims who were preparing for one of the last major rites of their trip met on a major intersection, Saudi authorities said.

The crush left bodies of victims and injured survivors heaped in chaotic piles on the street in blazing desert heat, videos and photographs from the site showed.

Over 4,000 rescue workers raced to the scene to offer first aid and load the most critically injured people into rescue helicopters and hundreds of ambulances .

The stampede is the deadliest disaster at the hajj since a similar tragedy in 1990, when more than 1,400 people died after panic broke out among crowds inside a tunnel.
It is also the second deadly disaster in Islam’s holiest city this month, after a construction crane collapsed on 11 September, killing more than 100 people and injuring more than 200.

The Guardian