Breaking News: 310 Crushed to Death, 450 Others Injured in Saudi Arabia Stampede (Photos)

 

At least 310 people have been crushed to death and about 450 left with injuries in a stampede of pilgrims.  This is one of the worst incidents in years to hit the Muslim Hajj in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia's civil defence service said rescue operations were under way after the stampede in Mina, where almost two million pilgrims were taking part in the last major rite of the Hajj.

It was not immediately clear what had caused the stampede. Pilgrims had converged on Mina just outside Mecca on Thursday to throw pebbles at one of three walls representing Satan, the symbolic 'stoning of the devil' that marks the last day of the event.
 

The world's 1.5billion Muslims were marking Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, the most important holiday of the Islamic calendar. The Hajj is among the five pillars of Islam and every capable Muslim must perform it at least once in a lifetime.

In the past, the pilgrimage was for years marred by stampedes and fires, but it had been largely incident-free for nearly a decade following safety improvements.

 

Saudi authorities take extensive precautions to ensure the security of the hajj and the safety of pilgrims. But tragedies are not uncommon.

The stampede was the deadliest disaster at the hajj since 2006, when more than 360 pilgrims were killed in a stampede in the same area. Another stampede at Mina in 2004 left 244 pilgrims dead and hundreds injured.

Thursday's stampede happened less than two weeks after a giant construction crane came crashing down on the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the focal point of the hajj.

That accident, on Sept. 11, killed at least 111 people and injured more than 390. Authorities blamed the crane collapse on high winds during an unusually powerful storm.

 

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Victims being attended to by rescue team