By SARAH ALMUKHTAR and DEREK WATKINS
I’m dying. I need water.”
“I’m dying. I’m dying. I need water.”
Rashid Siddiqui kept hearing those words from his fellow Muslim pilgrims lying mangled on the ground in 118-degree heat, under a searing Saudi sun. Barefoot, topless and dazed, Mr. Siddiqui had somehow escaped being crushed by the surging crowd.
It was Sept. 24, 2015, the third morning of the hajj, the annual five-day pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, by millions of Muslims from around the world. By some estimates, it was the deadliest day in hajj history and one of the worst accidents in the world in decades.
An American from Atlanta, Mr. Siddiqui, 42, had been walking through a sprawling valley of tens of thousands of pilgrim tents. His destination: Jamarat Bridge, where pilgrims throw pebbles at three large pillars in a ritual symbolizing the stoning of the devil.
He was less than a mile from the bridge when the crush began.
Hundreds, and probably thousands, died. But nearly a year later, the Saudi authorities have yet to explain exactly how the disaster happened. Nor have they provided what is widely considered an accurate death toll. Many of the victims came from Iran, Saudi Arabia’s bitter rival, creating a new source of acrimony between the countries that led Iran’s government to bar its citizens from the hajj this year.
Deadly crowd crushes once frequently marred the hajj, especially around the Jamarat Bridge. The Saudis sought to prevent such calamities by expanding the bridge after more than 360 people died near it in 2006.
After the expansion, there were no major episodes — until last year.
A count by The Associated Press, derived from official and state news reports of the dead from 36 countries with pilgrims in Mecca, found that at least 2,400 people had died. The Saudi authorities, however, still give an official death toll of 769.
Despite years of accusations of mismanagement, the Saudi royal family has repeatedly insisted on its right to supervise the hajj.
All Muslims who are physically and financially able to complete the hajj are obliged to do so at least once in their lives. Under Saudi Arabia’s ruling royal family, which regards the king as the custodian of Islam’s holiest sites, the number of pilgrims coming from outside the country has grown more than tenfold since World War II.
In recent years, two million to three million people have attended the annual hajj.
Read more: Caught in the Crash
Source: NYTimes
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