Indonesia reports 225 nationals missing in Hajj stampede

At least 225 Indonesian pilgrims were reported missing after the stampede incident during the hajj procession in Saudi Arabia on Thursday that claimed the lives of more than 700 pilgrims.

The figure of the missing Indonesian pilgrims was officially released by Indonesia Religious Affairs ministry's task force of PPIH assigned to oversee and manage Indonesians conducting hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, saying that the missing pilgrims departed from Batam, Surabaya and the capital of Jakarta.

Those missing pilgrims were reported by hajj group leaders, as they have not returned to their tents since the incident took place. Hajj pilgrims were staying in tents provided by Saudi Arabia government, waiting for the final procession in Arafah lawn and in the Jamarat.

Indonesia previously reported 3 of its pilgrims killed in the stampede that occurred on Thursday noon when around 2 million of pilgrims from across the world altogether struggling to pass through pathway leading to the Jamarat building where they were obliged to carry out "stoning the devil" procession.

Indonesia, the country with the largest Muslim population, saw more than 168,000 pilgrims departed for hajj this year.

"We are continuing our search on possible more nationals fallen in the stampede incident by forming a special team," Head of PPIH Arsyad Hidayat said on Friday.

The team was tasked to collect information from hajj group leaders about hajj pilgrims under their supervision who were around the scene around the time when the deadly incident took place, Arsyad said.

The team was also assigned to scour hospitals around Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to find out nationals possibly admitted there related to the stampede.

"Besides that, the team would also scrutinize bodies from the incident which now kept in Moeaisim," he added.

According to Arsyad, there were possibilities that pilgrims who did not show up in their tents were lost or went to some other places without notifying their companions.

"We would also check places they might be lost or went to after separated from their groups," he added.

Thursday's stampede incident was regarded as the worst in the last two decades. Besides killing 717 hajj pilgrims, the deadly stampede left 450 injured.

In January 2006, a similar incident in Jamarat killed 346 pilgrims and wounded more than 200 others. The worst one was a stampede in Mina tunnel that killed 1,426 hajj pilgrims, in July 1990. 649 Indonesian pilgrims were killed in the tunnel stampede.

Source: XINHUA