Egyptian Haj stampede victims toll up to 165

Friday 09-10-2015 04:03 PM
Egyptian Haj stampede victims toll up to 165

Muslim pilgrims walk towards the Grand Mosque to pray during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca September 27, 2014. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

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CAIRO, OCT 9 (Aswat Masriya) - The number of Egyptians killed in the Haj stampede last month climbed to 165 from 158, while 73 Egyptians are currently missing, Egypt's consul general in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia said in a statement issued Thursday.

A stampede in the Saudi tent city of Mina on Sept. 24 left 769 dead when pilgrims either suffocated or were trampled while preforming Haj, one of the five pillars of Islam.  

Consul General Adel al-Alfi said officials from Saudi Arabia's interior and health ministries are working to quickly identify the bodies and are providing updates to the consulate. 

Pictures of dozens of Egyptians who went to Saudi for pilgrimage are being circulated on social media by family members who have lost contact with them. Many of them are senior citizens. 

The Egyptian consulate in Jeddah has uploaded photos of unidentified persons killed and injured during the stampede to its official Facebook page and asked relatives of missing persons to identify them.

The stampede has killed and injured people from across the world, including over 450 from Iran, according to Iranian news sources.

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