Hajj 2025: As pilgrims gather in Mecca, a look back at past tragedies

Hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage to the sacred metropolis of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, is ready to start on Wednesday. Over the past decade, the holy occasion has seen a collection of tragic incidents, starting from deadly stampedes to militant assaults.Last yr, round 1,301 pilgrims, largely unregistered, died when temperatures soared to 51.8°C, with many missing entry to air-conditioned tents and buses.

Stampedes

Stampedes have been a recurring tragedy throughout Hajj. The deadliest occurred in 2015, when roughly 2,300 worshippers died in the course of the symbolic “stoning of the devil” ritual in Mina close to Mecca.Just two weeks earlier, greater than 100 folks had been killed when robust winds prompted a building crane to break down onto Mecca’s Grand Mosque.In 2006, a lodge collapsed in Mecca’s metropolis middle, killing 76 folks, adopted shortly by a stampede that claimed the lives of 364 pilgrims.Earlier tragedies embody a 1994 stampede that killed 270 folks, and a 1990 catastrophe in which 1,426 folks died because of a air flow system failure in a tunnel at Mina. Most victims had been Asian, and 7 pilgrims reportedly fell from a bridge.

Fatal Attacks

On July 10, 1989, twin explosions outdoors the Grand Mosque killed one individual and injured 16 others. In the aftermath, 16 Kuwaiti Shiites had been convicted and executed for the assaults.In one other main incident, on November 20, 1979, gunmen took dozens of pilgrims hostage whereas demanding the abdication of the Saudi royal household.

Protests

A lethal protest on July 31, 1987, noticed over 400 folks killed, together with 275 Iranian pilgrims, throughout an unauthorized demonstration.

Fires

In one of many worst hearth incidents, a gasoline range explosion prompted a blaze that killed 343 folks and injured 1,500 in Mina.In 1975, greater than 200 folks died after a gasoline canister exploded close to a pilgrim camp near Mecca.This yr, greater than a million Muslim pilgrims have arrived in Mecca for Hajj. With temperatures forecast to exceed 40°C, authorities have stepped up preparations to keep away from a repeat of past disasters.Forty authorities businesses and 250,000 personnel have been deployed to handle the warmth and make sure the security of pilgrims.