KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24 – The death toll in the stampede on Thursday during the annual haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia has risen to 717 people, according to Saudi Arabia General Directorate of Civil Defence. The department said in its official Twitter @KSA_998 that another 809 people were injured in the incident caused by large numbers of people pushing at Mina, outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca to perform the ‘stoning of the devil’ ritual.
Earlier, Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki said no Malaysians were involved in the haj pilgrims stampede. The last major stampede incident during the haj took place in 2006, when at least 346 pilgrims were killed as they attempted to perform the ‘stoning of the devil’ ritual at Jamarat. More than three million pilgrims from around the world, including over 22,000 Malaysians, are now in the Holy Land to perform the Haj this year.
