Incidents during the Hajj

There have been many serious incidents during the Hajj (the Muslim pilgrimage to the city of Mecca) that in total have caused the loss of thousands of lives. Every follower of Islam is requested to visit Mecca during the Hajj at least once in his or her lifetime, but only if they can afford or able to do so. During the month of the Hajj, Mecca must cope with as many as three million pilgrims.[1]

Jet travel makes Mecca and the Hajj more accessible to pilgrims from all over the world. As a consequence, the Hajj has become increasingly crowded. City officials are required to control large crowds and provide food, shelter, sanitation, and emergency services for millions. Unfortunately, they have not always been able to prevent disasters. The stoning of the devil ritual is the most dangerous part of the pilgrimage because of the huge crowds, particularly as they cross the massive two-layer flyover-style Jamarat Bridge that affords access to the pillars.

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Stampedes and failures of crowd control

Sometimes the surging crowds, trekking from one station of the pilgrimage to the next, cause a stampede. Panic spreads, pilgrims jostle to avoid being trampled, and hundreds of deaths can occur as a result. The stoning of the devil ceremony is particularly crowded and dangerous. Some notable incidents include:

Fires

November 1, 2011: 2 pilgrims, a man and his wife died in a coach fire. There were two coaches in the convoy, and a person in the second coach noticed smoke billowing from the coach in front. He radioed the driver to stop. Everybody evacuated the coach, and as the last two were getting out, the coach exploded three times. They were Abu Talha Dawood Burbank and his wife from Birmingham, United Kingdom, who had just landed in Jeddah en route to Macca. Their funerals were held in the Grand Holy Mosque (Al Haraam) and laid to rest in the nearby cemetery.

Protests and violence

Disease

Mingling of visitors from many countries, some of which have poor health care systems still plagued by preventable infectious diseases, can lead to the spread of epidemics. If an outbreak were to occur on the road to Mecca, pilgrims could exacerbate the problem when they returned home and passed their infection on to others. This was more of a problem in the past. One such disease, which has prompted response from the Saudi government, is meningitis as it became a primary concern after an international outbreak following the Hajj in 1987. Due to post-Hajj outbreaks globally of certain types of meningitis in previous years, it is now a visa requirement to be immunised with the ACW135Y vaccine before arrival. Every year, the Saudi government publishes a list of required vaccines for pilgrims, which for 2010 also includes yellow fever, polio, and influenza.[8]

Historical outbreaks

Al Ghaza hotel collapse

A concrete multi-story building located in Mecca close to the Grand Mosque collapsed on January 5, 2006. The building, the Al-Ghaza Hotel, is said to have housed a restaurant, a convenience store, and a hostel. The hostel was reported to have been housing pilgrims to the 2006 Hajj. It is not clear how many pilgrims were in the hotel at the time of the collapse. As of latest reports, the death toll is 76 and the number of injured is 64.[9]

Other fatal events

Pickpocketing

Of late, pickpocketing has created numerous problems for Hajj pilgrims. According to the Save Madina Foundation, among Indians alone, 321 were victims of pickpocketing during Hajj in 2010. [16]

Official Responses

Critics say that the Saudi government should have done more to prevent such tragedies. The Saudi government insists that any such mass gatherings are inherently dangerous and difficult to handle, and that they have taken a number of steps to prevent the problems.

One of the biggest steps, which is also controversial, is a new system of registrations, passports, and travel visas to control the flow of pilgrims. This system is designed to encourage and accommodate first-time visitors to Mecca, while restricting repeat visits. Pilgrims who have the means and desire to perform the Hajj several times have protested what they see as discrimination, but the Hajj Commission has stated that they see no alternative if further tragedies are to be prevented.

Following the 2004 stampede, Saudi authorities embarked on major construction work in and around the Jamarat Bridge area. Additional accessways, footbridges, and emergency exits were built, and the three cylindrical pillars were replaced with concrete walls to enable more pilgrims simultaneous access to them without the jostling and fighting for position of recent years. The government has also announced a multi-million-dollar project to expand the bridge to five levels; the project is planned for completion in time for the 1427 AH (Dec. 2006 – Jan. 2007) Hajj.[17]

References

  1. ^ "Pilgrims mark end of peaceful hajj: Circling of Kaaba brings to close perhaps largest-ever pilgrimage to Mecca"]. January 2, 2007. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16442316/. "This year’s hajj was likely the biggest ever, with authorities estimating that around 3 million people participated." 
  2. ^ "Saudis identifying nationalities of 118 dead pilgrims". BBC News. April 9, 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/76348.stm. 
  3. ^ Lessons from Hajj deaths at BBC News - 6 March 2001
  4. ^ "Fourteen killed in Hajj stampede". BBC News. February 11, 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2749231.stm. 
  5. ^ BBC NEWS | Hundreds killed in Hajj stampede
  6. ^ Dokumentation: Die schwersten Unglücke bei der Hadsch - Panorama - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Nachrichten
  7. ^ Lawrence Wright, Looming Tower, (2006), p.93
  8. ^ Health conditions for travellers to Saudi Arabia for the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj), Weekly Epidemiological Report, World Health Organization
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ IOL: Millions descend on Mecca for haj
  11. ^ http://allafrica.com/stories/200701080951.html
  12. ^ People's Daily Online - 22 Egyptian pilgrims dies during Mecca hajj
  13. ^ 4 Mecca pilgrims find ‘heavenly’ deaths at the Hajj - INQUIRER.net, Philippine News for Filipinos
  14. ^ "Third Briton died in Jeddah crash". BBC News. December 10, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6164337.stm. 
  15. ^ Pajhwok Afghan News - 13 Afghan pilgrims die during hajj, by Abdul Qadeer Siddiqui. November 9, 2011.
  16. ^ http://www.savemadinafoundation.webstarts.com
  17. ^ "Hajj ritual sees new safety moves". BBC News. January 10, 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4600310.stm. 

External links

See also