Saeed Haider & Siraj Wahab

MINA, 2 February 2004 — Disaster struck Mina yesterday when 244 pilgrims were trampled to death on the way to stoning the Great Satan on the Jamrat Bridge. The tragedy occurred as two million pilgrims flocked to the bridge early in the morning to throw stones at the pillar representing the devil.

“There were 244 pilgrims who died in the incident in Jamrat,” Iyad Madani, minister of Haj, told reporters without giving a breakdown of nationalities. A similar number were injured. Up to eight of them were in critical condition.

“Some pilgrims were not organized and there was a crush by people carrying personal belongings which created obstacles to the movement of pilgrims.

“I assure you that precautions are always taken, but we don’t always know God’s intentions. What happened will be evaluated,” the minister added.

He said most of the dead were pilgrims who overstayed after performing Umrah and did not have Haj permits.

The dead comprised 134 men and 110 women.

Eyewitnesses said rescue efforts were hampered by the huge number of people in the area. The bridge was transformed into a disaster zone in minutes. Once it became clear what had happened, helicopters flew in and hovered overhead. Ambulances, sirens blaring, streamed in from all directions. The authorities tried to form a protective ring around the Jamrat Bridge to stop other pilgrims from surging ahead to their deaths.

Officials in the helicopters were giving directions to forces on the ground in an attempt to control the situation, but it was initially chaotic until some semblance of order could be brought to bear. Thousands of pilgrims were stranded on the bridge not knowing where to go or what to do.

Reports of exactly what caused the disaster vary but it appears to have been a combination of events that snowballed into calamity. According to one eyewitness, after stoning the Jamrat one particular group of pilgrims tried to turn back and retrace their path in order to return to their camp. This group clashed with the oncoming tide of pilgrims and were overwhelmed and trampled upon. Another eyewitness said that a group of pilgrims hurrying to be the first to stone the devil, elbowed their way forward, resulting in weaker pilgrims falling to the ground and being crushed. As the first pilgrims went down, their screams caused panic among those nearby. Word quickly spread that there was no way forward and people then tried to turn back, with horrific consequences. Women were the worst affected. Seeing their loved ones fall to the ground they began screaming and shouting hysterically.

According to one Pakistani couple, in contravention of all instructions pilgrims brought bags and suitcases with them onto the bridge. In the crush these pilgrims were unable to hold onto their baggage and it was left by the wayside.

The bags and bundles became death traps as other pilgrims fell over the objects and were engulfed by the oncoming masses.

All the while the terrible events were in progress loudspeakers were blasting messages begging the pilgrims to control themselves. Electronic signboards were flashing messages reading, “Wait! The Jamrat is crowded.” Pilgrims said they were unaware of either the audio or visual instructions due to the chaos and extremely high noise levels in the area.

The whole incident lasted for about 40 minutes, until the authorities could surround the area and start clearing the bodies. Then the stoning ritual was allowed to resume.

After sunset the extent of the tragedy sunk in. It was at this time that some pilgrims realized that husbands, relatives and friends had not turned up in the camp. The mood in Mina turned very somber. Pilgrims were seen rushing to their consular offices inquiring about missing group members. There were crowds around Mina General Hospital where the bodies of unidentified pilgrims were still being held in the mortuary. Those who had missing relatives were asked to come forward to try to identify the bodies. The tragedy was compounded by the fact that even in the evening the breakdown of victims by nationality was unavailable. Even consular officers of various nations were at a loss to say anything about the missing pilgrims from their countries.

According to the Sri Lankan ambassador, he had received inquiries about many missing pilgrims. He felt that this was a reaction to the panic and he was hopeful that many of those reported missing would turn up at their camps later in the night.

“This is a terrible embarrassment for us,” said pilgrim Sultan Al-Aseeri. “It should not have happened. It has become an annual problem.”

— Additional reporting by Hassan Adawi