HAJJ STAMPEDE : 4 Bangladeshis confirmed dead [ Tritiyo Matra News ]

HAJJ STAMPEDE : 4 Bangladeshis confirmed dead

Local September 28, 2015

At least four Bangladeshi hajj pilgrims died in a stampede in Mina in Saudi Arabia and scores went missing after the incident on September 24, the foreign ministry confirmed on Sunday.
The Bangladesh Hajj mission control room in Makkah initially enlisted names of a total of 158 hajj pilgrims as missing, but most of them returned to their respective tents and hotels, a control room official told New Age over phone Sunday evening.
He, however, could not clearly state the number of people who returned to their respective places.
‘We could ascertain the death of three pilgrims whose photos were released by Saudi authorities,’ Bangladesh ambassador in Saudi Arabia Golam Moshi told New Age.
He said that six medical teams were now working to search different hospitals in Makkah to detect whether any Bangladeshi hajj pilgrims were injured and undergoing treatment in the hospitals.
The photographs of probable Bangladeshi victims had been displayed in the Bangladesh Hajj Mission, Makkah for identification by hajj agents, relatives and acquaintances, he said.
‘I expect to give a clear picture of the Bangladeshi hajj pilgrims within two or three days,’ the ambassador said.
Some 769 hajj pilgrims’ of different countries died in the incident.
The deadliest mishap occurred when two large groups of pilgrims arrived together at a crossroad at the camp city at Mina, a few kilometres east of Makkah, reported Reuters, referring to the Saudi civil defence.
The external publicity wing of the foreign ministry in a press release on Sunday, referring to latest report received from Bangladesh Consulate General in Jeddah, said Saudi authorities have so far released photos of about 650 pilgrims who died in Mina, including three from Bangladesh.
Besides, family members of female Haji Firoza Khanam confirmed her death in the stampede though her photo was not yet among the photos so far published by Saudi authorities, it said.
One of the confirmed Bangladeshi victims is Md Shahidul Islam from Khulna, one whose identity could not be confirmed, and the other was initially identified as Aminur Rahman from Savar in Dhaka. But later Aminur’s relatives, verifying the photo, said that it was not Aminur’s body.
Referring to Saudi authorities, the control room set up in Makkah to report on missing hajjis, said the stampede killed 769 hajj pilgrims and injured other 934 ones at Mina where some two million people had been performing the annual hajj pilgrimage.
Over one lakh and six thousand people from Bangladesh went to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj this year, Bangladesh’s religious affairs ministry said.
The Bangladesh foreign ministry press release said that the number of missing Bangladeshi pilgrims was yet to be confirmed and that the Saudi authorities were expected to publish photographs of the rest of the victims within a day or two.
Bangladesh Embassy in Riyadh and Consulate General in Jeddah along with the Hajj Mission are working to get further information and to support the victims, according to the release.
It requested the Hajjis, their companions and relatives, hajj guides and agents to report about missing hajjis over phone to 00966(0)537375859 and 00966(0)509360082 numbers.
The pilgrimage, the world’s largest annual gathering of people, has been the scene of deadly disasters in the past, including stampedes, tent fires and riots.
The kingdom’s leaders have ordered an inquiry into the disaster – the deadliest to strike the annual Muslim pilgrimage in a quarter-century – and a ‘revision’ of its organisation, with the deaths raising tensions with regional rival Iran as well.
Our Correspondent in Bogra reported that one of the hajj pilgrims, Nurjahan Begum, 70, of Nandigram in the district died in the stampede.
Nurjahan’s family members said her grandson Golam Moula Mim
who had been accompanying her confirmed the death over telephone. Mim was injured but escaped death.
Our Correspondent in Feni reported that Tahera Begum of Sujapur village, her brother Nurunnabi Mintu of Nadna village and Nur Jahan of Sujapur village, all under Sonagazi upazila, died in the stampede.
Tahera’s youngest son Saifuddin Sumon told New Age that his elder brother Imam Uddin informed his family about the death of Tahera and Nurunnabi.
Nur Jahan’s younger brother Shihab Uddin told New Age they were informed about his sister’s death from relatives who had been performing hajj in Saudi Arabia.