Death toll during recent hajj pilgrimage worst on record

A new tally raised the death toll of the stampede last month near Mecca, Saudi Arabia to at least 1,470 people, which would make it the deadliest disaster in the history of the annual hajj pilgrimage.

The updated estimate, by the Associated Press’s count, is at least 700 higher than Saudi officials’ tally of 769 killed during the Sept. 24 stampede. The investigation into last month’s incident, which occurred in Mina, a few miles from Mecca, remains ongoing.

Although Saudi officials have said their estimate is accurate, they haven’t revised their death toll count since Sept. 26, the AP reported. The AP’s revised figure comes from compiling numbers that appeared in statements or officials’ comments from countries whose citizens participated in the event.

Previously, the worst hajj tragedy occurred in 1990 when 1,426 people died during a stampede in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel.

Saudi officials have said last month’s stampede started when two waves of pilgrims collided on a narrow road, as millions of Muslims made their way to the holy city.

Survivors told the AP’s Aya Batrawy that when the crowds intersected, people began pushing past one another.

“[T]hat’s when people started tripping, falling over each other, falling over wheelchairs. People were suffocating, bodies were piling up, and the streets just turned into complete chaos and mayhem,” Batrawy told the NewsHour on the day of the disaster.

Batrawy added that there were still bodies lying on the ground when she arrived at the scene 10 hours later.

Hundreds of pilgrims remain missing, the AP reported.