MINA: Saudi Arabia deployed large numbers of special forces as pilgrims performed the final rituals of a hajj marred by double tragedy, with the number of martyrs rising to 789.
Health Minister Khaled al-Falih announced the new figure, an increase from the previous toll of 738.
The number hurt rose to 934 from 863 recorded just after the deadliest incident in a quarter-century to strike the annual Muslim pilgrimage.
Dozens of “special emergency force” personnel were seen on one level of Jamarat Bridge, a five-story structure in Mina where pilgrims ritually stone the devil, and on which hundreds of thousands were converging when the stampede occurred nearby.
Many more special forces patrolled the network of roads leading to the structure, which resembles a parking garage. The tightened measures came after the stampede outside Jamarat Bridge. The interior ministry has said it had assigned 100,000 police to secure the hajj and manage crowds.
But pilgrims blamed the stampede on police road closures and poor management of the throng, during searing temperatures.
Criticism has also been particularly strident from Saudi Arabia´s regional rival Iran, which raised to 136 the number of its people who were martyred. “It is not only incompetence, but a crime,” Iranian Attorney General Ebrahim Raeisi said, calling on the kingdom to take those responsible to court.
The disaster was the second deadly accident to hit worshippers this month. A massive construction crane collapsed on the Grand Mosque in the nearby holy city of Mecca days before the hajj, martyring 109 people, many of them pilgrims.
36 Pakistani pilgrims martyred in Mina Stampede: Pak ambassador
RIYADH: Pakistani ambassador to Saudi Arabia said that death toll of Pakistani Hajj pilgrims in Mina stampede rose to 36 and injured number is 37.
Talking to newsmen, Pakistani envoy Manzoorul Haq said that most of the Pakistani pilgrims who embraced martyrdom in the deadly incident have been identified.
“Not so many Pakistani pilgrims were present at the site of the incident,” he said.
Haq said that 86 missing Pakistani pilgrims were found yesterday while 90 more pilgrims were also found today. The ambassador, however, failed to disclose the total number of missing Pakistani pilgrims.