Saudi suggests pilgrims at fault over haj deaths
MINA, Saudi Arabia, September 25, 2015
Saudi Arabia, under growing pressure to account for a crush that killed more than 700 people at the haj pilgrimage, on Friday suggested pilgrims failing to follow crowd control rules bore some blame for the worst disaster at the event for 25 years.
The kingdom's regional rival Iran expressed outrage at the deaths of 131 of its nationals at the world's largest annual gathering of people.
In a statement posted on his ministry's website, Saudi Health Minister Khalid Al-Falih said an investigation would be conducted rapidly and a final toll of dead and wounded calculated. At least 863 pilgrims were injured.
"The investigations into the incident of the stampede that took place today in Mina, which was perhaps because some pilgrims moved without following instructions by the relevant authorities, will be fast and will be announced as has happened in other incidents," the statement said.
Falih said the injured were being transferred to hospitals in Makkah and if necessary to other parts of the country.
Falih's comments were likely to be seen by the kingdom's critics as an attempt to deflect responsibility for the incident: Safety during haj is politically sensitive for the kingdom's Al Saud dynasty, since the ruling family presents itself internationally as the guardian of orthodox Islam and custodian of its holiest places in Makkah and Madinah.
With photographs of piles of the dead circulating on social media and pilgrims frantically searching for missing compatriots, the effort to uncover the facts and assign blame was likely to grow more acute and possibly more political.
"CATASTROPHE"
Saudi King Salman ordered a review of haj plans after the disaster, in which two big groups of pilgrims collided at a crossroads in Mina, a few km east of Makkah, on their way to performing the "stoning of the devil" ritual at Jamarat.
Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, in New York to attend the UN General Assembly, echoed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in blaming Saudi Arabia for the incident.
"I ask the Saudi Arabian government to take the responsibility of this catastrophe and fulfil its legal and Islamic duties in this regard," Rouhani said in a statement published on the state news agency IRNA.
Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry spokesman Major General Mansour Turki was quoted in Saudi media on Friday as saying the security forces had immediately responded and begun to rescue those who fell in the crush.
Speaking in New York, Pope Francis expressed "my sentiments of closeness" with the world's Muslims after the tragedy. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the United States offered condolence.
In Islamabad, the Pakistani ministry of religious affairs said seven Pakistanis were dead and six were injured. - Reuters
