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Number of victims from yesterday's mass crushing at Mecca expected to rise

Saudi Arabian officials say they expect the number of victims of yesterday's mass crushing at Mec...
Newstalk
Newstalk

06.59 25 Sep 2015


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Number of victims from yesterd...

Number of victims from yesterday's mass crushing at Mecca expected to rise

Newstalk
Newstalk

06.59 25 Sep 2015


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Saudi Arabian officials say they expect the number of victims of yesterday's mass crushing at Mecca to rise.

The country's King has ordered a review of safety at the pilgrimage site, where at least 719 people died when two crowds collided.

It is the worst disaster to strike the Hajj pilgrimage for 25 years.

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Civil defence officials said more than 800 were also injured in the crush at Mina, on the outskirts of the Muslim holy city Mecca, where some two million people are at the annual pilgrimage.

The crush happened in a morning surge of pilgrims at the intersection of streets 204 and 223 in Mina, a large valley about three miles east of Mecca.

A statement from the Saudi embassy in London said: "The majority of Thursday's victims descended onto a pathway toward (the three stone walls) Jamarat during a time that was not allocated to them".

It comes as Saudi King Salman has ordered a safety review of the pilgrimage and a swift investigation into the disaster.

Just two weeks ago, a giant crane crashed down on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing 111 people and injuring more than 390.

In 2006 at least 346 Hajj pilgrims were killed in a stampede in the same area and in July 1990 around 1,400 pilgrims suffocated in a tunnel near Mecca.


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