The crush happened at Mina, which is the location for a key ritual - symbolically stoning the devil by throwing pebbles against three pillars.Apparently, the Devil decided to fight back.
"People were chanting Allah's name while others were crying, including children and infants. People fell on the ground seeking help but there was no-one to give them a helping hand. Everybody seemed to be on their own."The Saudis are quick to make promises about the future...
"Dead bodies stretch as far as my eyes can see," said Bashir Sa'ad Abdullahi, the BBC's Abuja editor, who is in Mina.
“And we will make sure that we will learn from this and we will make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir added, urging Iranian leaders to wait for the investigation results.Unfortunately, they're talking out their arse, yet again.
Much like Ted Kennedy's car, the Hajj has killed way more (as in thousands of) people than my guns and will likely continue to do so in the future.
Hajj: Previous tragediesIf this had happened in Canada, Justin's Liberals would, no doubt, be calling for a "Pilgrim Registry."
2006: 364 pilgrims die in a crush at foot of Jamarat Bridge in Mina
1997: 340 pilgrims are killed when fire fuelled by high winds sweeps through Mina's tent city
1994: 270 pilgrims die in a stampede during the stoning ritual
1990: 1,426 pilgrims, mainly Asian, die in a stampede in an overcrowded tunnel leading to holy sites
1987: 402 people die when security forces break up an anti-US demonstration by Iranian pilgrims
I suppose if you are a religious person and your family were crushed and killed, you could console yourself with, "Gawd is just testing my faith," which, to be honest, seems like pretty thin gruel to me.
I truly do not "get" religion. Each to his own, I suppose.
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LAST WORD: It's not just squashing people
"This raises to 483 the number of deaths out of 1,118 MERS infections in Saudi Arabia, where the virus first appeared in 2012, according to the ministry."They can be martyrs, right?