TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - One Indonesian pilgrim died in the unfortunate stampede in the Road 204, en route to the location of throwing Jamrah, in Mina, around 7:30 Saudi Arabia time, officials said Thursday, September 24.
The death toll from a stampede during the annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia on Thursday has risen to 453 people of various nationalities, the Saudi civil defence said.
It said that the crush, caused by large numbers of people gathering at Mina, outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca, had left 719 people injured.
“Only initial identification, name and group," Indonesian Pilgrim Mecca Coordinator Arsyad Hidayat said in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday.
Arsyad could not confirm the name and the group. He said the information was obtained from the deceased spouse.
Arsyad said the road where the incident happened is not the road that is usually used by Indonesian pilgrims to throw jamrah.
Some two million people are performing the annual hajj pilgrimage this year.
The incident took place on Street 204 of the camp city at Mina, a few kilometres east of Mecca, where pilgrims stay for several days during the climax of the hajj.
The pilgrimage, the world's largest annual gathering of people, has been the scene of deadly disasters in the past, including stampedes, tent fires and riots.
REUTERS | ANTARA | NZM