Iran’s Larijani Urges OIC to Probe into Mina Crush

About 2000 pilgrims were killed in a Thursday crush in Mina, near Mecca, when performing religious rites. With the death toll rising, many pilgrims are still unaccounted for in the incident that marked the worst Hajj disaster in 25 years.

In his Monday message to the parliament speakers of Islamic countries, Larijani condoled his counterparts on recent disastrous incidents during the pilgrimage, including the Mina tragedy.

He further urged the OIC and its inter-parliamentary union to find the root causes of the incidents by forming a fact-finding committee, saying the Saudi government is to blame for the huge disaster and should be accountable.

Given the large scale of the incident and the history of similar events in recent years during the Hajj rituals, it is expected of the OIC parliaments to take appropriate measures in a bid to prevent the recurrence of such painful tragedies in the future, Larijani said.

So far, 169 Iranian pilgrims have been pronounced dead and near a hundred others are confirmed to have been wounded in the tragic event.

At least 296 Iranian nationals who went missing after the tragedy are still unaccounted for.

The incident came nearly two weeks after tens of Hajj pilgrims were killed in another tragic incident in Mecca.

On September 11, a massive construction crane crashed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque in stormy weather, killing at least 107 people, including 11 Iranians, and injuring 201 others.

Hajj, the world’s largest annual gathering of people, has already witnessed numerous deadly crushes, fires and riots in the past.

Saudi authorities have come under fire for their inability to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who converge on Mecca every year.