Mina Disaster: Indonesian Pilgrims Was Warned to Postpone Jamrah
19 October 2018 13:40 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-Suwandi Ahmad, activist from Air Putih Foundation, said that Indonesian Hajj officials have suggested Indonesian Hajj pilgrims to postpone throwing jamrah. Suwandi told Tempo on Thursday, September 24, that he had been in the tunnel a moment before the unfortunate event took place.
“We are fine. We were in the tunnel before the incident,” he said on Thursday.
Suwandi said that location of the incident is not a usual route for Indonesian Hajj pilgrims. “Indonesian Hajj pilgrims usually take Muaisim tunnel,” he said. “The tunnel is a routine for Egyptian and African Hajj pilgrims.”
Moreover, he said that the weather was rather extreme.
The stampede claimed lives of 717 people of various nationalities, the Saudi civil defence said.
One Indonesian pilgrim died in the unfortunate stampede, Indonesian Pilgrim Mecca Coordinator Arsyad Hidayat confirmed on Thursday.
The crush, which was caused by large numbers of people gathering at Mina outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca where some two million are performing hajj, had also left 805 people injured.
ARKHELAUS WISNU
