244 killed in Muslim-pilgrim stampede

By Karl Vick
The Washington Post

	VAHID SALEMI / AP Muslim pilgrims perform a symbolic stoning of the devil yesterday as they throw pebbles at a pillar in Mina, just outside Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during the annual Muslim pilgrimage or hajj.
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ISTANBUL, Turkey — A stampede outside the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca yesterday left at least 244 Muslim pilgrims dead, the largest loss of life in years during an annual religious gathering where vast crowds often overwhelm efforts to control them.

The stampede in Mina occurred on a narrow bridge crowded with white-clad worshippers making their way to hurl stones at pillars where Muslims believe the devil appeared before the biblical patriarch Abraham. In an emotional ritual, pilgrims frantically throw rocks, shout insults or hurl their shoes at three stone pillars — acts that are supposed to demonstrate their deep disdain for Satan.

Those approaching from behind yesterday eventually pushed down pilgrims closest to the pillars, causing panic and a stampede so intense it took police a half-hour to reach the dead and injured, officials said. At least 200 people were treated, some for serious injuries.

"There was more than 400 meters of people pushing in the same direction," said Iyad Madani, the Saudi minister for hajj, the pilgrimage that all Muslims who can afford it are asked to make at least once in a lifetime. Officials estimated 2 million people made the pilgrimage this year.

"All precautions were taken to prevent such an incident, but this is God's will," Madani said.

The death toll was the highest since 1997, when 340 pilgrims were killed in a fire in their tent city in Mina, on the road from Mecca, Islam's holiest city, to Mount Arafat.

Last year 14 pilgrims were fatally trampled during the pilgrimage. In 2001 a stampede claimed 35 lives. In 1998 the death toll was 180. In 1990, 1,426 pilgrims were crushed in a pedestrian tunnel in Mecca.

"Think of 20 Super Bowls altogether," said Khaled Maeena, editor of Arab News, a Saudi newspaper published nationwide. "A life is a life and we cannot afford to have these things happen. But it's 2 million people confined to a very narrow arrow for quite some time — three days. It's not a joke."

Admission to the hajj from abroad is by permit, allowing the Department of General Statistics to produce the exact number of foreign nationals officially participating in this year's pilgrimage: 1,419,706.

Brig. Mansour Turki of the Saudi General Security Forces said about 10,000 general security officers were deployed yesterday in the area of the stampede.

Support staff is assigned to help the throngs cope with the desert sun, handing out ice water and umbrellas. Saudi Boy Scouts stand by with maps to assist pilgrims who invariably get separated from their groups in a sea of worshippers identically clad in the simple white garments pilgrims are obliged to wear to erase distinctions between rich and poor.

And because certain annual bottlenecks — including the bridge leading to the devil's pillars — have proved dangerous in the past, foreign pilgrims were assigned specific times to set off, in hopes of staggering the crowds over several hours.

Madani also said 272 pilgrims had died of natural causes during the hajj. Many participants are elderly, and Muslims believe that if a person dies while performing the pilgrimage he or she will go directly to heaven.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report.

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