Mass panic in Mecca 2015

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Pilgrims in Minā on their way back from the Jamarat Bridge (2011)

During the mass panic in Mecca in 2015 , several hundred people died on the third day of Hajj , on the morning of September 24, in a valley near Mecca . According to the Saudi authorities, the official number of deaths was 769, and another 934 were injured. The number of deaths was corrected to 2,411 in December 2015 according to the count by the Associated Press (AP), Reuters and Agence France-Presse, after which it was the worst in the history of the Muslim pilgrimage. Hundreds of pilgrims are still missing.

Previous mass panics

In the past there had been repeated mass panics during the Hajj. In 2006, around 350 Muslims died in a crowd. The mass panic with the greatest number of victims before 2015 was in 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims were killed in a connecting tunnel between Mecca and Minā.

Course of events

Tent cities of Minā (2009)

According to the Saudi Arabian media, around three million Muslims went on the pilgrimage in 2015, 1.4 million of them from abroad. This year, the pilgrimage was overshadowed by a devastating accident even before it began. On September 11, a construction crane fell on an inner courtyard of the Great Mosque of Mecca, 107 people died and around 400 others were injured. However, the authorities decided to let the Hajj take place.

The accident occurred near a T-shaped intersection in Minā , where many of the pilgrims are housed in tent cities during the pilgrimage. On the local Jamarat Bridge , the pilgrims preparing for the ritual stoning of the third day of the Hajj Devil ago.

The Hajj continued despite the disaster and the authorities then made greater efforts to avoid large crowds and to redirect the pilgrims to alternative routes.

According to a spokesman for the Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry , the mass panic broke out when various pilgrims met and began to slide against each other, which was exacerbated by extreme heat and exhaustion on the part of those involved. The Ministry of Health held people responsible for not following the schedules and instructions given by the security forces. The chairman of the Saudi Arabian Hajj Committee, Prince Khalid Al-Faisal, explicitly named "pilgrims from African countries". In the Iranian and Lebanese media, however, the accusation was raised that the disaster was triggered by a lockdown to allow Defense Minister and Vice-Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman , a son of King Salman, along with his companions, security forces and police officers to pass. King Salman announced an investigation into the incidents, and the Iranian Attorney General Ebrahim Raisi called for international courts and organizations to review the events.

On October 9, 2015, AP published a significantly higher number of victims than the Saudi Arabian government. According to this estimate, which is based on official information from 19 affected nations, at least 1,470 people were killed in the mass panic, making it the worst incident of its kind in the history of Hajj. The dpa news agency counted the number of victims from 28 countries on 1807 deaths. The numbers come from official sources or the media and it became clear that people were still missing in October 2015.

Reactions

The supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamene'i , accused Saudi Arabia of not having the bodies of the Iranian victims returned to their homeland quickly enough and threatened harsh retribution by Iran. With reference to the Iranian organization of Hajj pilgrims, the Iranian television station Press TV reported a far higher number of victims with 4173.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Death Toll From Hajj Stampede Reaches 2,411 in New Estimate - The New York Times. December 10, 2015, accessed December 11, 2015 .
  2. ↑ a b c Ben Hubbard: Hajj Stampede Near Mecca Leaves Over 700 Dead . nytimes.com September 24, 2015, accessed September 25, 2015
  3. ↑ Pilgrimage: Crowds near Mecca - more than 700 dead. In: Spiegel Online . September 24, 2015, accessed September 24, 2015 .
  4. ↑ Peter Mühlbauer : 717 trampled to death at this year's Hajj . Telepolis, September 25, 2015, accessed September 27, 2015
  5. ^ Mass panic in Mecca: Iran speaks of crime . Spiegel Online, September 26, 2015, accessed September 27, 2015
  6. ^ Prince Salman convoy triggered Hajj stampede: Report . Press TV, September 24, 2015, accessed September 27, 2015
  7. ^ Saudi Arabia: News Agency Compiles New Tally for Stampede's Death Toll . nytimes.com, October 9, 2015, accessed October 11, 2015
  8. ↑ The count results in more than twice as many deaths as announced in: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, October 17, 2015, accessed on October 17, 2015
  9. ↑ Susannah Cullinane: Iran's Khamenei threatens 'harsh' retaliation over Hajj stampede at Mina . cnn.com, September 30, 2015, accessed October 3, 2015

Coordinates: 21 ° 24 ′ 59.6 ″  N , 39 ° 53 ′ 5 ″  E