Grand Mosque tragedy: 15 Pakistani pilgrims among the dead, claims Al Arabiya

FO, religious affairs ministry say no Pakistani was killed; differ over number of injured

ISLAMABAD:

As the death toll from Friday’s tragic crane crash at the Grand Mosque in Makkah soared past 100, a Saudi-owned pan-Arab television channel reported on Saturday that 15 Pakistanis were among the dead.

“Initial reports on casualties suggest those killed were 15 Pakistanis, 23 Egyptians, 10 Indians, 25 Iranian, six Malaysians, 25 Bangladeshis, one Algerian and one Afghan,” Al Arabiya news channel reported on its website.

Surprisingly, however, Pakistan’s Foreign Office and Ministry of Religious Affairs said no Pakistani pilgrim was killed while the two ministries also differed on the number of Pakistani nationals injured in the accident.

According to Foreign Office spokesman Qazi Khalilullah, 51 Pakistani pilgrims were wounded when the heavy crane snapped and collapsed in the Grand Mosque. Of them, 26 are being treated for their injuries at three hospitals in Saudi Arabia, he told The Express Tribune on Saturday.

The remaining 25 sustained bruises and have already been discharged from hospitals, Khalilullah added. None of the 51 injured Pakistanis are critical.



“On Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s directions, Pakistan’s ambassador in Riyadh visited the injured Pakistanis admitted in various hospitals and expressed satisfaction over the treatment provided to them,” the spokesman said.

Adviser to the Minister for Religious Affairs Sajjad Qamar, however, said only 23 Pakistani pilgrims were injured in the accident. Of them, only two were critically injured while the rest received only minor injuries, he added.

When told about the figure of 51 injured given out by the Foreign Office spokesman, Qamar said “I have no idea. As far as the Ministry of Religious Affairs is concerned, the Saudi health department has confirmed that only 23 Pakistanis were injured, two of whom are critical.”

He added that the Ministry of Religious Affairs was in close coordination with Saudi health authorities and that special arrangements had been made in Makkah for the treatment of the injured Pakistanis. “The ministry has established an emergency cell which people can contact to inquire about their relatives,” Qamar further said. People can call the emergency cell in Lahore at 042-111725425, or they can call the liaison in Saudi Arabia at 8001166622.

Khalilullah, when told about the figure given by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, said it was not possible to get an accurate number of people injured in the accident. “There could be a difference in figures as they have been gathered from different sources.”

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence authority confirmed the death toll from Friday’s tragic accident had risen to 107. The number of injured also soared to 238.

However, Saudi authorities on Saturday said this year’s Hajj, expected to start on September 21, would go ahead as planned. “It [the accident] definitely will not affect the Hajj this season, and the affected part [of the Grand Mosque] will probably be fixed in a few days,” said a Saudi official, who declined to be named.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims had already arrived in Makkah when the massive red and white crane collapsed during rain and high winds on Friday. Parts of the Grand Mosque remained sealed off Saturday around the toppled crane.

An investigative committee has ‘immediately and urgently’ begun searching for the cause of the collapse, the official Saudi Press Agency said. The contractor has been directed to ensure the safety of all other cranes at the site, it added.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 13^th, 2015.