2015 Mina stampede

2015 Mina disaster

The way to Jamaraat Bridge (2011)
Date	24 September 2015 (2015-09-24)
Time	09:00 AST (UTC+03:00)
Location	Mina, Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Coordinates	21°24′59.5″N 39°53′04.9″E
Cause	Disputed, under investigation
Deaths	at least 1,107
Non-fatal injuries	934
Missing	at least 1,261

On September 24, 2015, camen raped the churches and burned the woman of MIna Oregon an overcrowding situation caused at least 1,107 people to suffocate or be crushed to death while injuring 934 others during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mina, Mecca. The incident happened at the intersection of streets 204 and 223 leading up to Jamaraat Bridge. It is the deadliest accident to occur in the Hajj since the 1990 disaster that killed 1,426 people.

The cause of the stampede is disputed. Iran, with the highest number of victims, strongly criticized Saudi Arabia for mishandling the annual pilgrimage and threatened to press the case against Saudi rulers in international courts. The incident has inflamed sectarian tensions between regional rivals Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, which were already raised due to the wider turmoil in the Middle East, such as the Syrian Civil War and Yemen Civil War. This was the second fatal incident at Mecca in less than two weeks; on 11 September a crane had collapsed, killing 111 people and injuring 394.

In a press conference held on the day of the incident, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior Mansour Al-Turki attempted to address most issues regarding the incident. He said that an investigation was ongoing and that the exact cause for crowding that led to the deadly stampede on Mina Street 204 are yet to be ascertained.

Background

Tent City at Mina in 2009

Main article: Hajj

The Hajj is an annual pilgrimage in Mecca prescribed as a duty for Muslims to undertake at least once in their lifetime. As traditionally performed, it consists of a series of rites including the Stoning of the Devil (Template:Lang-ar ramī aj-jamarāt) which takes place at the Jamaraat Bridge in Mina, a district a few miles east of Mecca. The Jamaraat Bridge is a pedestrian bridge from which pilgrims can throw pebbles at the three jamrah pillars. The stoning ritual is the last major ritual and is often regarded as the most dangerous part of the Hajj, with its large crowds, confined spaces, and tight scheduling. A number of stampedes have occurred in the past.

346 people were killed in a similar incident in 2006, which prompted the Saudi government to improve the infrastructure of the city. The Saudi Arabian government has been spending $60 billion to expand the Grand Mosque which houses the Kaaba, and has deployed 100,000 security forces and 5,000 CCTV cameras to monitor the crowds.

The 2015 Hajj occurred among such obstacles as regional turmoil, the hottest temperatures in Mecca in 20 years, the MERS infection and "all-time high" tensions between Sunnis and Shias.

The disaster

Nationalities of victims

Nationality	Deceased	Injured	Missing	Ref.
Afghanistan	2	—	6
Algeria	11	7	61
Bangladesh	41	61	148
Benin	17	—	0
Burkina Faso	1	—	0
Burundi	1	—	6
Cameroon	42	100	55
Chad	11	—	0
China	4	—	0
Egypt	83	26	80
Ethiopia	13	26	0
Ghana	—	—	8
India	46	50	63
Indonesia	57	10	80
Iran	464	14	—
Ivory Coast	14	—	77
Jordan	1	—	2
Kenya	6	—	8
Libya	8	—	—
Malaysia	1	—	0
Mali	79	155	129
Mauritius	—	—	5
Morocco	10	8	29
Myanmar	5	—	7
Netherlands	1	—	0
Niger	22	39	0
Nigeria	64	71	244
Oman	—	5	1
Pakistan	52	12	136
Philippines	1	—	0
Senegal	10	2	52
Somalia	8	—	0
Sri Lanka	—	—	2
Sudan	9	13	20
Tanzania	7	—	37
Tunisia	1	—	—
Turkey	4	—	5
United Kingdom	—	—	1
Unknown	—	327	0
Total	1,096	934	1,261

Deceased dignitaries

Nationality	Name	Ref.
Nigeria	Tijani El-Miskin Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf Alhaji Abbas Ibrahim Sambo Justice Abdulkadir Jega Justice Musa Hassan Alkali Engr Bello Gidan Hamma Alhaji Shehu Kontagora
Pakistan	Assad Murtaza Gilani
Iran	Mohammad Rahim Aghaei Poor Ghazanfar Roknabadi

According to a statement by the Saudi civil defence directorate, the stampede occurred Thursday 24 September 2015 at 09:00 Mecca time (06:00 UTC) at the junction between street 204 and 223 as pilgrims were en route to the Jamaraat Bridge. The Saudi Interior Ministry stated that the stampede was triggered when two large groups of pilgrims intersected from different directions onto the same street. The junction lay between two pilgrim camp sites. Lebanon-based Arabic-language daily Ad-Diyar alleged that the convoy escorting Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud, comprising 200 soldiers and 150 police officers, played a central role in the incident, by making some pilgrims turn around against the flow, which triggered a stampede. The article also stated that Mohammad and his huge entourage swiftly abandoned the scene, adding that the Saudi authorities sought to hush up the entire story and impose a media blackout on reporting Mohammad's presence in the area.

The Deputy Governor of Nigeria's state of Kebbi, who was present at the incident, confirmed that the deaths happened due to a blockage of the route to Jamaraat Bridge. "What actually happened was that all the pilgrims scheduled to throw Jamrat at that time were channeled to one particular street. At a time we got to a certain point around 8:00am, a military vehicle was set across to create a barrier and then some of the Saudi soldiers were standing by, suggesting that you cannot go beyond that point." "About 5,000 people coming from the same direction were not aware of the road block in front, which resulted to a tight and stationary human traffic, which made it very difficult for us to even stand. So, we continued to squat to make room for fresh air while the temperature was about 47 degrees celsius." "Pilgrims, in efforts to get fresh air, attempted to scale fences of tents on both sides of the road. Very few succeeded, while most people just succumb to the situation. It was at this juncture that we saw dead bodies piling up around us."

On 29 September 2015, Iranian Javan Daily News released a report criticizing the Saudi authorities over the secrecy surrounding the details of the disaster. The report went further by claiming that Saudi authorities tried to bury the unidentified bodies of victims. The report also referred to eyewitnesses claims that Saudi soldiers had seized the mobile phones of pilgrims who had used them to record videos of the disaster. In a poll conducted by Javan Daily among Iranian nationals between 27–30 September, 64 percent of respondents said that Menna was " Intentional" , while 28 percent related the incident to the "Mismanagement and Incompetence" of Saudi rulers. Only 8 percent of respondent said that it is simply "an accident".

PressTV reported that an Iranian survivor of the 24 September incident in Mina, whose name was not revealed, said only a handful of Saudi soldiers assisted those being trampled in the crush. "When I returned to the disaster point to help, Saudi soldiers prevented me from entering the area. This, as only a handful of Saudi soldiers were helping the victims, while a large number of them were standing by idly and looking," the man told Press TV. A number of other survivors have also shared similar accounts, saying that mismanagement by the Saudi authorities and a poor rescue response complicated the situation.

In a press conference held the day of the incident, spokesman of the Ministry of Interior Mansour Al-Turki attempted to address most issues regarding the incident. He said that an investigation was ongoing, that the exact causes for crowding that led to the deadly stampede on Mina Street 204 are yet to be ascertained. He explained that "Street number 204 is a road leading from the camps to the Jamarat Bridge. What happened was that a group of pilgrims on buses were allowed to descend onto the pathways that lead to the Jamarat Bridge at a time that wasn’t allocated to them," Al Arabiya News Channel’s correspondent in Mina, Saad Al-Matrafi said. "As they neared the area, they converged with an existing group of people who were already in the area, which pushed the area to over capacity." The spokesman also mentioned that most diplomatic convoys take place in the south of Mina and in underground tunnels, while the incident took place in the north. He added that news regarding the incident should be sought from official sources, pointing out that most controversial news regarding the unfortunate incident are coming from sources at conflict with the Saudi Government.

One scientific study explains the causes of such stampedes by using systematic review of computer models. According to this study, crowds are of two types: physical crowds (where people are simply in one place) and psychological crowds (where people in a physical crowd share a common self-definition – a social identity). A group of people at an event may all see themselves and each other as Muslims, Manchester United supporters, or music lovers, for example. This shared identity affects the behaviour of the crowd and is therefore imperative for understanding and predicting the crowd movements, including flow and congestion. Recent research has shown that feelings of group identity may mean psychological crowds are easier for their members to cope with even if they are tightly packed or very slow moving because they feel safe within the group. But when there are several psychological crowds within the same physical space they can inadvertently limit the movement of one another. In a recent (unpublished) study it was found that people in one psychological crowd walk more closely together, walk more slowly and walk further distances to stay together than people who are just in physical crowds. Those outside the psychological crowd did not try to walk through it but instead walked around it.

Casualties

The Saudi Civil Defence directorate stated that casualties were of multiple nationalities and announced the deployment of 4,000 personnel to the stampede site alongside 220 emergency response units. Pilgrims were redirected away from the stampede site. The Saudi Red Crescent was also mobilised and the injured are being treated at four hospitals.

Medics at Mina's emergency hospital said they alone received almost 700 people on the day of the incident, suggesting the overall death toll could grow. The eight hospitals around the Hajj landmarks and the six main hospitals in the city of Mecca were operating at full capacity after the stampede, medics said.

Iran's official news agency IRNA reported that according to Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation more than 2,000 people were killed and 2,000 more injured in the stampede. Also on 29 September 2015 Fars News referring to Iran's Hajj and Pilgrimage Organisation estimated that there were 2,700 people killed. Later reports by Iranian sources put the death toll at over 4,000. PressTV recently reported that the Saudi government confirms the death toll in the tragedy has reached 4,173.

Nationalities of victims of 2015 Mina stampede including deceased, injured and missing.

Map shows the % Muslim population in each nation, worldwide.

Deceased

• Ghazanfar Roknabadi, an Iranian diplomat, who served as Iranian ambassador to Lebanon from 2010 to 2014, attended the Hajj in 2015. He is believed to be dead in the disaster. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham on 28 September 2015 referring to Saudi media reports that say have no official record on the entry of Ghazanfar Asl Roknabadi to the kingdom, described the reports as "incorrect" and "hasty", saying the ministry has documents showing that Riyadh had approved an ordinary Hajj visa for the dead diplomat. Iranian media also release footage on 29 September, showing Roknabadi's presence in Mina. The passport that shows his entrance into Saudi Arabia was also released by Iranian media.

Missing

• Mufti Mohammed Farooq, a prominent Indian Islamic scholar who was to perform Hajj, has been missing since the stampede. Farooq, a senior religious scholar, is a prolific writer and has authored over 50 books on a range of subjects, including Hadith and Fiqh, in Urdu and Hindi, reports said. He is the founder and principal of Jamia Mahmoodia in Meerut which has been running for over 25 years and has over 700 students.
• Hon. Adeola Maurufudeen Adefolabi, from Lagos, Nigeria, is missing since the stampede. He is one term honourable member representing Ifako Ijaiye in the lower chamber of the National Assembly and former chairman of Ifako Ijaiye and Ojokoro Local Government Areas. As per report, he was last communicated before the stampede and all efforts made by family, friends and fellow pilgrims to locate the grass root political titan has proved abortive.

Eyewitness accounts

Several eyewitnesses claimed that the closure of Street 206 was the main reason behind the stampede.

Reactions

Governments

Saudi Arabia

• The governor of the Makkah Region and head of the Central Hajj Committee Prince Khaled al-Faisal blamed the stampede on "some pilgrims from African nationalities." The Saudi health minister Khalid A. Al-Falih stated that the stampede occurred due to pilgrims failing to follow official directions, adding that timetables established by authorities were ignored. However, witnesses dispute this, according to the Guardian.
• King Salman removed three high-level officials from their posts following the stampede.

Iran

• Ali Khamenei, Supreme leader of Islamic Republic of Iran, declared three days of national mourning in Iran. "The Saudi government is obligated to shoulder its heavy responsibility in this bitter incident and meet its obligations in compliance with the rule of righteousness and fairness. Mismanagement and improper measures that were behind this tragedy should not be overlooked," Khamenei said. He further said "Saudi Arabia is incapable of organising the pilgrimage. The running of the Hajj must be handed over to Islamic states.
• Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, in his address to the seventieth UN General Assembly said the feelings of millions of Muslims being hurt by the incident amounts to spiritual loss which cannot be compensated for simply by material means. "The public opinion demands that Saudi authorities discharge, without delay, their international responsibility in providing immediate consular access for the quick identification and returning of the bodies [of the deceased]," said the Iranian president. He further added that "It is also required that the necessary conditions be provided for [conducting] an independent and precise inquiry into the causes of the [Mina] disaster and [working out] methods for preventing a repeat of that in the future."
• Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned Saudi Arabia’s chargé d'affaires, and dispatched a high-ranking delegation from the Foreign Ministry and the Iranian Red Crescent, headed by Hassan Qashqavi, to investigate the situation. Amir Abdollahian, Deputy of Foreign Affairs Minister, accused Saudi officials of tactlessness over the lack of safety measures at the Hajj and said "We can in no way be indifferent to this irresponsible behaviour of Saudi Arabia. This will be dealt with through diplomatic channels."
• The head of Iran’s Hajj organisation, Said Ohadi, accused Saudi Arabia of safety errors that caused the accident saying that "Today’s incident shows mismanagement and lack of serious attention to the safety of pilgrims. There is no other explanation. The Saudi officials should be held accountable."
• Khamenei’s representative on Hajj affairs, Seyed Ali Ghaziaskar, said: "Saudi officials do not let our medical team and doctors to reach the affected areas and hospitals to help."
• Thousands of people marched in Tehran to protest at Saudi Arabia’s handling of the hajj pilgrimage. The Iranian demonstrators carried black banners and chanted "death to Al Saud" (مرگ بر آل سعود), the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia.
• Iran also vowed to take international legal action against Saudi Arabia’s rulers over the stampede. Iran’s State Prosecutor Ebrahim Raisi said "Under international law, this incident is absolutely subject to prosecution. The Al-Saud must be responsive. They have to know that we will pursue the trial of Al-Saud for the crime they have committed against the hajj pilgrims through international courts and organizations."

Turkey

Mehmet Gormez, the head of Presidency of Religious Affairs blamed serious management issues at Mecca, saying, "There was serious negligence by authorities in directing the crowd." AKP Deputy Chair Mehmet Ali Şahin also criticised the Saudi organisation, and has claimed that Turkey could do a better job than Saudi Arabia at organising the Hajj pilgrimage, calling for Turkey to be entrusted with its management. However, Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended the Saudi government saying, "I do not sympathise with the hostile statements against Saudi Arabia." He asserted, "It is not right to have the approach of putting the blame on Saudi Arabia. On the contrary, during the Hajj and Umrah I participated in, I came to observe closely the level of sensibility in the organization work conducted there. Therefore I cannot say ‘the organization is wrong’."

Lebanon

Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary General of Hezbullah said that the Saudi regime holds the full responsibility for the Mina incident as it was the sole manager of the pilgrimage and it has always refused to share this responsibility with anyone else. He stressed that blaming the pilgrims for this tragedy was a simplification of things, and that the consequent accidents in the pilgrimage that take place every year indicate that there is a major problem in Saudi’s management. He further said Saudi Arabia should allow Muslim countries to help the kingdom run the Hajj pilgrimage rituals, emphasising the need for the formation of a Muslim committee to "supervise the management" of the annual Islamic event. He also added that a group of Muslim countries should be formed to probe the fatal stampede during Hajj rites.

Nigeria

• Nigerian government has dismissed remarks by the Saudi health minister blaming pilgrims for "not following instructions."
• Abdullahi Mukhtar, the Chairman of National Hajj Commission of Nigeria said, "It was not fair for anyone to blame Africans participating at the pilgrimage for the fatal incident" and called on the Saudi authority to include Nigeria in a government investigation into the incident.
• The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, urged Saudi authorities to henceforth provide improved safety measures during the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
• Members of the House of Representatives condemned stampede in Mecca during which several lives were lost. The House also demanded for the immediate take-over of the investigation of the incident by international investigators since there were still conflicting reports as to the cause of the incident. It stated that this became necessary in order to prevent future occurrence. During the tragedy, 54 Nigerians lost their lives. One member of the House, Honourable Igbokwue, pointed out that if nothing concrete was done to establish the cause of the stampede, it would definitely happen again.

Syria

State-controlled news agency Syrian Arab News Agency said, "The stampede raised questions about the Saudi government’s attention to pilgrims’ safety despite billions of dollars that Saudi authorities claim to spend to improve Hajj."

Indonesia

• Indonesian officials criticized Saudi Arabia's response to the hajj disaster in Mina, saying authorities in the kingdom prevented their diplomats from seeing initial data and blocked their immediate access to the dead.
• Indonesia officially offered assistance to help Saudi Arabia in identifying bodies of hundreds of hajj pilgrims killed in Thursday's stampede during the conduction of a hajj procession in Mina, a statement released by Indonesian Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Analysts

• Irfan al-Alawi, the executive director of the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, said that "the disaster was a result of poor management by the government, given the number of past disasters."
• Madawi al-Rasheed, a Saudi-Arabian anthropologist and visiting professor at the London School of Economics, said: "There is no accountability. It’s shocking that almost every year there is some kind of death toll. The renovation and expansion are done under the pretext of creating more space for Muslim pilgrims, but it masks land grabs and vast amounts of money being made by the princes and by other Saudis. Officials in the kingdom had avoided responsibility in part by citing the Islamic doctrine that anyone who dies during the pilgrimage goes to heaven."
• Ali al-Ahmed, a Saudi analyst and current director of the Washington D.C. based Institute for Gulf Affairs think tank blamed the Saudi government’s "mismanagement" of the Hajj, saying that "the Ministry of Interior’s use of soldiers who have no clue or expertise in managing crowds was the real cause of stampedes. This really has to do with the failure of the Saudi government in organizing this Hajj, and they need to get help from around the world."
• Saeed al-Shehabi, a London-based political activist in an interview with Iranian-based television Press TV said that, "In Saudi Arabia; it is good the Saudis are good at war, are good at financing terrorism and extremism, they are bombing Yemen days and nights, yet they cannot manage this annual festival where Muslims are expected to exercise their worship in peace and in harmony and also to discuss their own lively matters that concern Muslims."
• Salman al-Ouda, a Saudi cleric said that "Riyadh regime should be held accountable for the crush, adding that Saudi rulers cannot evade their responsibility by labeling the tragedy as an act of God." He called on media outlets to cover the incident with full transparency.
• Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh, Saudi Arabia's top religious leader told Saudi Arabia's crown prince: "You are not responsible for what happened. As for the things that humans cannot control, you are not blamed for them. Fate and destiny are inevitable," the sheikh told the prince, who is also minister of interior.
• Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, a Ugandan British author and journalist, seized upon the incident to blast Saudi Arabia for its human rights violations and funding violent Wahhabism in the world. She criticized the Saudi government for blaming the victims in the incident and added "Mecca was once a place of simplicity and spirituality. Today the avaricious Saudis have bulldozed historical sites and turned it into the Las Vegas of Islam – with hotels, skyscrapers and malls to spend, spend, spend. The poor can no longer afford to go there. Numbers should be controlled to ensure safety – but that would be ruinous for profits." She also added that Western leaders are not willing to confront Saudi Arabia because of oil and profits made by arm sales.
• One of the grandsons of the Saudi Arabia's founder, Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud, citing unrest among the royal family, plummeting oil prices and criticism of Saudi’s management of Makkah days after a stampede during Hajj claimed 1,100 lives, said there was a need for a change in leadership. The prince explained a double tragedy in Makkah – the collapse of a crane that killed more than 100, followed by a stampede last week that killed 1,100 – has raised questions not just about social issues, but also about royal stewardship of the holiest site in Islam. "The public are also pushing this very hard, all kinds of people, tribal leaders," the prince added. "They say you have to do this or the country will go to disaster."
• Dr. Abbass Schumann, the Undersecretary of Al-Azhar, Egypt, said that allegations of negligence concerning Saudi’s administration and handling of the hajj are "unacceptable". Schumann called for patience pending the conclusion of the investigation by Saudi Arabia, and cautioned against rushing to judgment.
• Vijay Prashad, Northampton-based journalist and historian, said that survivors told journalists that Saudi's response to the tragedy was "too little, too late," stressing that Saudi rescuers arrived almost two hours after the incident. ...much of Mecca, like Saudi Arabia in general, is designed for the VIP and the VVIP. Embarrassingly, Riyadh provides little if any care to ordinary people and it is not the first time that Saudi Arabia has demonstrated disdain for the lives of Muslims. Instead of pouring money into the war, Riyadh should use its wealth to make the Hajj safe not only for the VIPs, but for millions of ordinary Muslims.
• Citing the rumors about the block, Basma Attasi, the reporter from Aljazeera who was present in the ritual, explained "For those who know the area where the stampede occurred, this report seems far from reality. The relatively humble area is far from the entrance to Mina and houses ordinary pilgrims arriving from outside of Saudi Arabia. Important personalities stay in areas close to the entrance and their convoys are assigned separate tunnels and roads to facilitate their movement."
• Keith Still, Professor of Crowd Science at Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain who helped redesign the Jamarat after a disaster in 2004, said there was criticism at the time that the upgrades at the Jamarat had not been extended to other areas. "For complex systems that flow in and out, if you make one change along the way it can have knock-on and ripple effects elsewhere," said Still. "Change any one part of system with 3 million people, and there's a danger of an accident like this."

See also

• 1987 Mecca incident
• Incidents during the Hajj
• List of deadliest stampedes and panics

External links

• Saudi Civil Defense Directorate [@KSA_998] (24 September 2015). "Sorting operations are still continuing" (Tweet) (in Arabic) – via Twitter.
• Nazer, Fahad (16 September 2015). "Is Saudi Arabia up to the task of protecting the 'House of God'?". Al-Monitor.