A Nigerian pilgrim from Sokoto, Alhaji Muhamadu Ilela, who was at the scene of the stampede that killed over 700 people in Saudi Arabia, has revealed that the deaths occurred because the Saudi police blocked one of the gates leading to the Jamrat area.
‘’For over one hour, the queue didn’t move and we were in the scorching sun. After some time, people started collapsing because of the heat wave, This was what caused the initial deaths. A stampede followed which caused the deaths of most pilgrims.’’ he alleged.
The Public Relations Officer of the National Hajj Commission, Uba Mana, said that Emir of Kano, who is the leader of the delegation, and others were meeting.
The Saudi Civil Defence Directorate reported on twitter that 4,000 personnel had been sent to the scene of stampede, along with more than 220 emergency and rescue units.
Incidentally, the emir of Kano earlier in the week urged pilgrims to accept the arrangement which the
Saudi Authorities have put in place over ‘’the stoning of the devil’’ at Jamrat.
Amirul Hajj Sanusi revealed that performing the stoning of the devil in batches and spreading the time for the Islamic rite to include the period of Zawal (sun rise) is necessary to protect the lives of pilgrims.
The Emir noted that ‘’on many occasion, pilgrims have been killed at the stoning site from stampede arising
out of thousands of pilgrims converging to do the throwing at the same time, among number of causes.’’
Emir Sanusi II recalled that 266 pilgrims had died in 1994 while 98 others were injured at the stoning site that year. Ten years later, 251 pilgrims died in 2004 and in 2006, 346 also died, he added.
According to him, ‘’all these incidents happened at the Jamarat. The frequency and sheer enormity necessitated the following arrangement of the concerned authority, by performing the ritual in a way that will protect human life.’’
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