Edited by melinda_kerr at 26-9-2015 08:47 PM
Authorities in Saudi Arabia say at least 150 people have been killed in a crush at Mina, outside the holy city of Mecca, where two million people are performing the annual hajj pilgrimage.
Hundreds more were injured, civil defence officials said.
There have been stampedes during the hajj on at least six previous occasions, killing hundreds of pilgrims. In 1990, more than 1,400 died in a stampede inside a tunnel.
Latest:- Sumber CNN
A 'sudden surge in the crowd' Thursday
Performing the Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, and every Muslim who is physically and financially able is required to make the journey to the holy city of Mecca near Saudi Arabia's west coast at least once in their lives. The pilgrimage takes place over five days and includes many detailed rituals, including wearing purifying white robes, walking counterclockwise around the Kabaa and the symbolic stoning of evil. Thursday's stampede happened at this ritual stoning in the tent city of Mina, about 2 miles from Mecca. There, pilgrims throw stones at three walls and pillars called the Jamarat in a re-enactment of when the Prophet Abraham stoned the devil to reject his temptations. At 9 a.m., there was a "sudden surge in the crowd" heading toward the Jamarat, resulting in overcrowding, a spokesman for the Saudi civil defense agency said in a statement from the Saudi Press Agency. "A large number fell," the statement said. Journalist Khaled Al-Maeena told CNN over the phone from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, that pilgrims rushing to finish could have been the main reason for the stampede: "People like to do the first stoning in the morning," he said. He added: "People must have fainted because it was very hot and humid down there ... and also there have been many cases of dehydration since yesterday." The Saudis spent $1.2 billion on a bridge for pilgrims
As millions of devotees move in a small area, keeping them safe is a huge logistical puzzle for Saudi authorities. "The numbers grow and grow and grow," said Hugh Kennedy, a professor of Arabic at the London School of Oriental and African Studies. "When the Hajj was in its early days, the numbers were thousands, perhaps even less than that; now we're talking about 2 million. They all want to do the same thing as those thousands did 1,400 years ago. "It's not just that there are a lot of people there, it's that they want to be in the same places at certain times," he said. In 2009, the government erected three massive pillars and completed a $1.2 billion, five-story bridge nearby where pilgrims could toss stones. The Jamarat Bridge is air-conditioned to keep the temperatures at 19 Celsius (66 Fahrenheit) in a place where temperatures can routinely exceed 37 C (99 F), according to U.S. State Department. The idea was to give the faithful more room and a better atmosphere, and it worked well for a few years.
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Post time 24-9-2015 04:48 PM
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