The Hajj tragedy

It is unwise to rush to judgment as to the causes of the tragedy in the holy city of Makkah on September 24. By the afternoon of September 27, the death toll had risen to 769, increasing overnight as some in hospital succumbed to their injuries. There are at least 934 injured and many of those are still hospitalised. Accusations and rumours abound, and already the event has been politicised with Iran in particular – which lost at least 131 of its nationals with another 300 said to be “unaccounted for” – being forthright in its criticism of the Saudi authorities.



From the little hard evidence in the public domain, it is safe to say that two large groups of pilgrims were convergent when they should not have been. The reasons for this are as yet not entirely clear. Whether they had ignored instructions or were following faulty instructions is too soon to say, and the Saudi government has said that it will be conducting a full investigation and that the results will be made public – including any mistakes that may have been contributory factors. It remains to be seen, however, whether this will indeed be the case. Saudi Arabia hosts the single largest annual crowd management challenge on the planet. There are larger gatherings elsewhere but none of a similar frequency. There have been crush events before also at the Mina site and the Saudis have invested many millions of dollars over the years in improving the infrastructure that services the Hajj, so perhaps it will be unfair to accuse them of skimping. However, concrete structures are one thing; people in a high state of religious fervour another. It is not difficult to trigger stampede behaviours in crowds that size. In recent years, such incidents have not been occurring with regular frequency, indicating that the Saudis might have been doing something right although one has to say there is never any room for complacency when managing such huge crowds. Inevitably, there have been Pakistani casualties in the tragedy, although the exact number of these has proved to be difficult to verify. Our consular services need to move quickly to both identify the victims and arrive at a final figure for the dead and injured. Our sincere condolences to all those who have lost loved ones.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2015.

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