TEMPO.CO, Jakarta-Saudi Arabia has given foreign diplomats some 1,100 photographs of the dead from last week's hajj crush and stampede, Indian and Pakistani authorities said, an indication of a significantly higher death toll than previously offered by the kingdom, the Associated Press reported Tuesday, September 29.
Head of Mecca Work Area Arsyad Hidayat said Tuesday, September 29 that the number of pilgrims died and identified in the Mina tragedy have reached 46 people.
He said, until now photos released by the Saudi government are removed from the containers used as makeshift morgues. Previously, from 41 victims, team managed to identify five Indonesian pilgrims.
Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin also said that his team received some 1,107 photos for identification in a press conference Monday evening.
Saifuddin said there are five morgue containers of unidentified corpses at Al Muashim, Mecca, so the Hajj Committee (PPIH) team will return there to search.
"At first, we saw four containers, now there are five containers, each container contains dozens of bodies," said Lukman in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Monday, after describing the government actions in identifying victims of the tragedy.
Saudi officials could not be immediately reached for comment Monday night about the discrepancy in the toll of the disaster in Mina. The Saudi Health Ministry's latest figures, released Saturday, put the toll at 769 people killed and 934 injured.
In addition to the increasing death toll, the number of Indonesian pilgrims that have not returned to their lodgings had also increased, from the previously 82 to 90 people.
BISNIS.COM | NZM
