Dozens Reported Killed in Hajj Stampede

[shugah]

Dozens Reported Killed in Hajj Stampede

Muslim pilgrims rushing to complete a symbolic stoning ritual on the last day of the hajj tripped over luggage Thursday, and an unknown number of people were killed in the ensuing stampede, the Interior Ministry said. State-run television said dozens died or were injured.

The stampede occurred as tens of thousands of pilgrims headed toward al-Jamarat, a series of three pillars representing the devil that the faithful pelt with stones to purge themselves of sin.

The ritual has seen deadly stampedes in the past, including one in 1990 that killed 1,426 people and another in February 2004 that killed 244.

~snip~

The pillars are located on a large pedestrian bridge, the width of an eight-lane highway over the desert plain of Mina outside the holy city of Mecca. A number of ramps lead up the bridge to give pilgrims access to the site, and the stampede occurred at the base of one ramp.

http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/feeds/ap/2006/01/12/ap2445244.html

[Julius Civitatus]

1. Every single year the same thing happens

I just don´t get it. I don´t understand, really, how the same thing can happen year after year during the very same superstitious religious celebration.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/12/hajj.stampede/index.html

(...)The Hajj has been connected with deadly incidents in the past, most of them stampedes that take place during the ceremonies.

However, at least 76 people -- mostly pilgrims -- were killed last week when a hotel collapsed near the Grand Mosque in central Mecca. It is still unclear what caused the small building to crumble onto the streets packed with pilgrims.

The worst stampede happened in 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims were trampled to death.

More recently, 251 pilgrims died two years ago in a stampede during the stone-throwing ritual. A stampede in 2003 killed 36 pilgrims, most of them en route to the devil-stoning ritual, conducted outside Mecca. In 2001, a stampede at the same ritual killed 35.

[mn9driver]

2. Sheer numbers of people.

The same thing has happened in the US at large concert events, and elsewhere at large athletic events. The Hajj crowd makes those look small.

[Posteritatis]

3. It's hard to overstate how big the Hajj crowd tends to be

We're talking multiple millions of people in a very small area; the footprint of the mosque's grounds is far less than a square kilometer. On top of that, the crowd's nowhere near homogeneous; there's folks from most countries on the planet, with the confusion issues you'd get from that in a very small space, and so on and so forth.

Stuff like that happens whenever you get a huge, tightly-packed crowd in the same place and some slight thing goes awry. The Hajj crowd goes beyond merely "huge" during the height of the season, to put it lightly.

[IA_Seth]

29. Exactly.

Thanks for your response. I am disappointed with the responses from some of the people below. What happened to understanding diversity.

I understand that this is a tragedy, as is any loss of life, but this has always happened, and probably always will considering the circumstances (a diverse million walking in a very tight circle, and then trying to break from said circle to get to a nearby plain).

I see responses below calling these people animals. Sounds darn near what I would see on freerepublic I would imagine.

[NYC]

41. Hajj picture.

[AlCzervik]

5. actually dozens is an improvement, not to be macabre or anything

hopefully next year that number will go lower.

[soothsayer]

8. I guess the devil doesn't like having stones thrown at him.

[madmark]

34. The devil strikes back

[swag]

4. .

[sabra]

6. MSNBC Update: Ministry says at least 345 killed in Mecca stampede. More to

http://www.msnbc.msn.com

[spinbaby]

7. Wow

!!!

Methinks they need to examine their crowd-control plans.

[KFC]

9. I thought stampedes were all about cattle

Yee-hah, dumbasses.

[TheBaldyMan]

10. have any RW reverends claimed it was the will of God yet?

If they insist on worshiping their inferior Moon God and not the True Christan God(TM) what else can they expect.

[Clarkansas]

11. I don't get how they were killed in a "stampede"

I can see how people would be crushed to death, but a stampede implies a bunch of people running to or from something. Can someone explain this?

[madmark]

35. The scene there to throw the stones at the satan piller is like a Who

Concert to the power of 100.

[enigma000]

12. Hundreds killed in stampede at pilgrimage

MECCA, Saudi Arabia - Thousands of Muslim pilgrims rushing to complete a symbolic stoning ritual during the hajj tripped over luggage Thursday, causing a crush in which at least 345 people were killed, the Interior Ministry said.

The stampede occurred as tens of thousands of pilgrims headed toward al-Jamarat, a series of three pillars representing the devil that the faithful pelt with stones to purge themselves of sin.

Interior Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki said 345 people were killed. Dr. Abbasi, a Red Crescent doctor at the scene, put the number of injured at 1,000.

Horrible, simply horrible........

EDITED FOR LINK:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10818604/

[Maraya1969]

13. Is this a joke? Where is the link?

[Connie_Corleone]

16. It's real. I got a CNN breaking news email about it.

[Maraya1969]

32. I just saw it also. Thanks

[lonestarnot]

14. These people are nuts.

[GrumpyGreg]

15. Didn't this happen before?

[LeftHander]

18. that was a panic of a bomb in Iraq on a bridge....

100 plus were killed in stampede.

[lonestarnot]

19. Yes think 800 something people killed in that one, but I may

be having a brain fart.

[Beausoir]

20. I was wondering the same thing.

Isn't there any other way they can worship? Why do people have to be trampled to death?

[sweetheart]

26. now they are closer to god

There are worse things than dying on a purification pilgrimage.
As horrible as it is, they died holy deaths on holy ground.

Being trampled to death in a moment of being open to allah,
is a much preferred death than being killed randomly by american
bombs.

[MindPilot]

24. Almost every year about this time people are hurt or killed

stampeding to mecca. As the OP said, it's horrible, but it is not like they don't know it's gonna happen.

They have Mecca; we got Wal-Mart.

[lonestarnot]

17. link

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060112/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saudi_hajj_13

[phrenzy]

21. Great

Religious Fundies Strike Again.

[rayofreason]

22. This happens quite frequently

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajj#Incidents_during_the_Hajj

I do not know of any parallel to this kind of ongoing chaos in any other religious or cultural pilgrimage. It really is rather stunning.

[Hyernel]

23. Are these people dumb animals or something?

There was another stampede in 1990 that killed 1400.

I wonder if Muslims use the "God must have a reason" excuse to explain away stuff like this.

Sheesh!

SECULARIZE EARTH NOW!!!!

[MindPilot]

25. Sometimes the herd is self-culling. n/t

[Maraya1969]

40. Hey all religions have rituals that seems strange to outsiders. Catholics

eat a wafer and believe that it is the actual body of Jesus Christ.

I burn sweet sage in my house to get rid of negative energy and I had a Feng Shui person come over and Feng Shui my house, (however it is that you describe such a thing). Some people think that is nuts.

Don't ever plant a white Hibiscus plant next to your house.

[Hyernel]

48. Really? I have red and pink hibiscus. Hope I'm okay!

:)

[ernstbass]

27. Religious fervor can be deadly

in more ways than one!

[Book Lover]

28. Is it possible to extend the Hajj

to two or three times a year? That way not so many people are trying to crowd into an area that simply does not have the capacity. I imagine that rebuilding the area is not an option(?)

[muriel_volestrangler]

33. Just what I was thinking

Can anyone tell us how strict the religious instructions are for how to perform the Hajj? Could the time it tkaes be lengthened, or done at another time of year, if the major religious authorities agreed it among themselves? Doing it would seem to be 'good' in either religious or secular terms - it's not meant to be dangerous, just something Muslims have to make an effort at. To acknowledge that the growth of Islam needs some different logistics from when the custom was started is hardly disrespecting the religion.

[GrumpyGreg]

37. If this was in the USA someone would probably franchise it to

more locations---for safety reason,of course.

[Bill McBlueState]

30. superstition

Will there ever be a day when the only superstitions that continue to exist are harmless ones? So much wasted life...

[manic expression]

46. Not really

they are following their beliefs. They knew the risk they were taking, but they went anyway. That should not be looked upon as "superstition", IMO.

[KamaAina]

31. Whatever you do, do NOT go to the Yahoo! message board for this story

http://post.news.messages.yahoo.com/bbs?.mm=NEWS&action=l&ft=1&board=37138459&sid=37138459&title=Thousands%20of%20Muslims%20Converge%20for%20Hajj%0A&tid=apsaudihajj&date=01-18-2005&url=story.news.yahoo.com%2Fnews%3Ftmpl%3Dstory%26u%3D%2Fap%2F20050118%2Fap_on_re_mi_ea%2Fsaudi_hajj_1&.sig=qubOFhEQtEsNUTcbfrdLmA--

I told you not to, but you went anyway! Time for a nice long shower...

"AIRDROP SOME PORK PRODUCTS" (small minds favor all caps, just like at FR) was among the milder comments. The Most Bizarre Post Award has to go to #9544, "24840 VIRGIN MUD TOADS NEEDED". Get it? 72 virgin "mud toads", whatever those are, for each victim? How could someone so breathtakingly ignorant possibly have been able to do the math correctly?!

[henslee]

36. Not much different between a pilgrimage and a Who concert.

[donco6]

42. Well, one difference . . .

After the Who concert incident, the arenas stopped selling general admission tickets to avoid the type of crush that occurs when seats are "first come, first served". The Hajj has no interest in changing anything about their archaic practice that leads to these types of mass deaths every single year.

[henslee]

43. They should hand out wrist bracelets... seriously.

[donco6]

45. Not a bad idea at all. But that's the point . . .

. . . they just don't seem in the slightest bit interested in making it safer for people. It's like the risk of death is an important part of the pilgrimage itself, therefore, removing the risk somehow lessens the value of the experience.

I'll never understand that religion.

not that I understand many religions anyway . . .

[superconnected]

38. WARNING

Expect an insane God-punnishing-islamics Pat Robertson speech to embarass Americans shortly.

[DS1]

39. And the moral of the story is

never check your luggage

[kaplan3602]

44. I'm just waiting for...

... someone to make the claim that it's a Zionist plot :)

[manic expression]

47. This has happened before

and to my knowledge, no one has claimed as much.

My apologies if you were being sarcastic.