A view of the camp city at Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, September 24, 2015.Reuters/Ahmad Masood
RIYADH (Reuters) – More than 700 pilgrims were killed in a crush at Hajjj on Thursday, the deadliest such incident since 1990.
Here are some other fatal events at Hajjj in past years.
December 1975 – A cooking gas cylinder explodes in the pilgrim tent city, causing a fire that kills over 200 pilgrims.
July 1987 – Iranian protesters clash with Saudi police, leading to the death of more than 400 Iranian pilgrims.
July 1990 – Inside the al-Muaissem tunnel near Mecca in Saudi Arabia, 1,426 pilgrims are crushed to death. The accident occurs on Eid al-Adha (The Feast of Sacrifice), Islam’s most important feast at the end of the Hajj and the day of the “stoning of the devil” ritual.
May 1994 – A stampede near Jamarat Bridge in Mina, near Mecca, kills 270 in the area where pilgrims ritually stone the devil.
April 1997 – 343 pilgrims are killed in a tent fire at the Hajj camp at Mina, prompting the government to construct a permanent, fireproof tent city there.
April 1998 – One hundred and nineteen Muslim pilgrims are crushed to death in Saudi Arabia at the Hajj.
February 2004 – A stampede kills 251 Muslim pilgrims in Saudi Arabia near the Jamarat Bridge during the stoning of the devil.
January 2006 – Some 362 Muslim pilgrims are crushed to death at the eastern entrance of the Jamarat Bridge during the stoning ritual.
September 2015 – A crane crashes into the Grand Mosque days before Hajj begins, crushing 111 people to death. +
September 2015 – A crush of pilgrims traveling from the camp at Mina to the Jamarat bridge kills at least 310, Saudi civil defense says.
(Reporting By Angus McDowall; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
