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Fourteen Indians among the 717 Haj pilgrims killed in Mecca stampede : Sushma Swaraj

by IBNS 25 Sep 2015, 08:40 am

New Delhi/Mina, Saudi Arabia, Sept 25 (IBNS) Fourteen Indians are among the 717 Haj pilgrims who have been killed in Thursday's stampede at Mina near the holy city of Mecca, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Friday.

 "Our Consul General Jeddah reports loss of 14 Indian lives in stampede. We have 13 injured in hospital, Swaraj tweeted.

"The exact number will be known after confirmation by Saudi authorities," she added.

 Of the Indian pilgrims who have died, nine are from Gujarat, two each from Jharkhand and Tami Nadu and one from Maharashtra, according to a list released by the Haj committee.

 About one lakh Indians are among the two million people performing the annual Haj in Mecca this year.

 The stampede took place on Thursday morning at the intersection of two streets leading to Jamarat, about five km from Mecca, where pilgrims were performing the "stone the devil" ritual.
 
More than 800 people were injured in the incident.

 The worst tragedy in 25 years at the annual Muslim pilgrimage has prompted King Salman of Saudi Arabia to order "a revision" of Haj organisation while authorities started a probe into the disaster.

 Mina is a camp city, where pilgrims from across the world stay for several days during the Haj.

This is the second major disaster at Mecca this month after over 100 people were killed on September 12, when a construction crane crashed on the Grand Mosque. 

In a similar disaster In January 2006, 364 pilgrims were killed in a stampede during the stoning ritual in Mina.

Helpline numbers released by Government of India: 0096612545800000966125496000
Toll free number for pilgrims: 8002477786