453 dead in crush near Mecca during hajj pilgrimage

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A stampede outside Mecca has killed 453 people and injured more than 700 others, the deadliest disaster on the annual hajj pilgrimage in over a quarter of a century.

The crush happened in the Mina valley, a few miles outside Mecca, where a sprawling camp of 160,000 tents fills with millions of visitors for a few days each year.

Tragedy hit when two large groups of pilgrims who were preparing for one of the last major rites of their trip met on a major intersection, Saudi authorities said.

The crush left bodies of victims and injured survivors heaped in chaotic piles on the street in blazing desert heat, videos and photographs from the site showed.

Over 4,000 rescue workers raced to the scene to offer first aid and load the most critically injured people into rescue helicopters and hundreds of ambulances .

The stampede was the deadliest disaster at the hajj since a similar tragedy in 1990, when more than 1,400 people died after panic broke out among crowds inside a tunnel.

It was also the second deadly disaster in Islam’s holiest city this month, after a construction crane collapsed on 11 September, killing more than 100 people and injuring more than 200.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

What's the feeling about this then?

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What's the feeling about this then?

If there is a God, doubtful, he has a sense of humour?

[decocker 7,198]

sadistic sense of humor imo.

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If there is a God why can she/he/it not be a sadist?

[decocker 7,198]

If there is a God why can she/he/it not be a sadist?

i believe the proper question is how could she/he/it not be sadist. god is everything soo..

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i believe the proper question is how could she/he/it not be sadist. god is everything soo..

Hmmm

Good Point

[Expat1 971]

Misleading title. Actual deaths are over 700, count still going up.

Though prayerful and holy and modest, these folks will run you right over going to and from the Mosque. I am surprised this doesn't happen every year.

[lostinblue 1,989]

Misleading title. Actual deaths are over 700, count still going up.

Though prayerful and holy and modest, these folks will run you right over going to and from the Mosque. I am surprised this doesn't happen every year.

Crowd dynamics comes into play more than anything else. Less than one square yard of space per person you can lose control of your own movements.. If a person falls folks back 500 feet have no idea and they keep pushing forward . Many people also die from asphyxiation .Tens of thousands of people pushing on each other ...Panic goes in waves throughout the crowd . people die.

[Expat1 971]

Crowd dynamics comes into play more than anything else. Less than one square yard of space per person you can lose control of your own movements.. If a person falls folks back 500 feet have no idea and they keep pushing forward . Many people also die from asphyxiation .Tens of thousands of people pushing on each other ...Panic goes in waves throughout the crowd . people die.

In a country full of rude, impatient, and shoving people (although they are very prayerful LOL) the crowd dynamics that you are picturing are not the same as the crowd dynamics I regularly see in what should typically be a simple line.

I noticed for instance a couple days ago that they managed to create 16 lanes for 8 open passport booths at the Bahrain Causeway. It doesn't work, but that doesn't stop them from trying it over and over and over.........

Picture that at the mall, at the McDonalds, at a grocery store and you can see what can happen.

Put a couple million of these folks in the same place and you're asking for a disaster

Edited September 24, 2015 by Expat1

[decocker 7,198]

In a country full of rude, impatient, and shoving people (although they are very prayerful LOL) the crowd dynamics that you are picturing are not the same as the crowd dynamics I regularly see in what should typically be a simple line.

I noticed for instance a couple days ago that they managed to create 16 lanes for 8 open passport booths at the Bahrain Causeway. It doesn't work, but that doesn't stop them from trying it over and over and over.........

Picture that at the mall, at the McDonalds, at a grocery store and you can see what can happen.

Put a couple million of these folks in the same place and you're asking for a disaster

sounds familiar.

[Expat1 971]

sounds familiar.

Certainly isn't limited to one location, but it is standard practice here

[decocker 7,198]

Certainly isn't limited to one location, but it is standard practice here

it's really sad, and a pretty horrible way to die.

[Expat1 971]

it's really sad, and a pretty horrible way to die.

Yeh. We had a couple friends leave for Hajj last week, seems they're OK thank goodness.

Every year dozens of people die there, just doesn't make the news. This one was bad.

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Don't they get a fast track on the escalator to heaven?

Seem to remember a lot of comments after the Crane about how lucky the dead were?