PM, president express condolences for Hajj stampede victims

PTI chief also expresses grief over deadliest stampede since 2006

President Mamnoon Hussain and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has expressed grief and sorrow over the sad dismiss of the pilgrims who embraced shahdat and sustain injuries in a stampede at Mina, Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

PM Nawaz Sharif has directed Foreign Office and Ministry of Religious Affairs to remain in contact with the Saudi authorities and extend all the assistance to all the Pakistani pilgrims in Mina and family and relatives inquiring about their health.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan also expressed grief over the incident.

Read: At least 220 pilgrims killed, 450 injured in Hajj stampede at Mina

"Deeply saddened to learn of stampede at Mina resulting in 150 shaheed and 400 injured. May Allah grant the martyrs a place in heaven," he said.

Deeply saddened to learn of stampede at Mina resulting in 150 shaheed & 400 injured. May Allah grant the martyrs a place in heaven.1/2

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 24, 2015

2/2 Praying for the injured in Mina stampede and for the safe return of all the Hajis.

— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 24, 2015

At least 220 pilgrims were killed on Thursday in a crush at Mina, outside Makkah, where some two million people are performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia's civil defence authority said.

At least 450 others were injured in the crush, which took place on Street 204 of the camp city at Mina, a few kilometres east of Makkah, where pilgrims stay for several days during the climax of the haj.

The pilgrimage, the world's largest annual gathering of people, has been the scene of deadly disasters in the past, including stampedes, tent fires and riots.

Read: Short-circuit: 1,500 Hajj pilgrims escape hotel fire

The last major incident in Hajj took place in 2006, when at least 346 pilgrims were killed as they attempted to perform the stoning of the devil at Jamarat. However, massive infrastructure upgrades and extensive spending on crowd control technology over the past two decades had made such events far less common.

Street 204 is one of the two main arteries leading through the camp at Mina to Jamarat, where pilgrims ritually stone the devil by hurling pebbles at three large pillars.