Seven pilgrims from Assam injured

MAKKAH STAMPEDE

By Our Staff Reporter

Guwahati, Sept 25: Seven pilgrims from Assam were among the injured in the stampede outside the holy city of Mecca that killed 717 Haj pilgrims from different countries on Thursday.

All the pilgrims are from Hailakandi. They have been identified as Monuwar Hussain Mazumdar, Nurul Haque Lashkar, Hazi Begun Lashkar, Moinul Haque Lashkar, Moinuddin Lashkar, Fazlul Haque and Probir Hann.

"Six of the wounded were released after first aid, while one was admitted to a hospital for a day," said Nekibur Zaman of the State Haj committee.

A total of 4,114 pilgrims from the State have gone to perform the annual Haj pilgrimage this year. "We have no formal communication from the Exterl Affairs ministry yet. The information regarding the injuries to the seven pilgrims were received from family sources. We hope all other pilgrims are safe, otherwise we would have got some information by now," Zaman said.

IANS adds from New Delhi/Riyadh: At least 14 Indian Haj pilgrims were among the over 700 killed in Thursday's stampede near Makkah in Saudi Arabia, nine of them being from Gujarat, it was officially announced on Friday.

Exterl Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj tweeted: "Our Consul General Jeddah reports loss of 14 Indian lives in stampede. We have 13 injured in hospital."

The minister, who is in the US, added: "The exact number will be known after confirmation by Saudi authorities."

According to the list put up on the Facebook site of the Haj Mission, Indian consulate, Jeddah, nine of the 14 people who died were from Gujarat, two each were from Jharkhand and Tamil du and one from Maharashtra.

Sushma Swaraj also said Indian volunteers have reached in large number and were assisting the local authorities.

At least 717 people have been confirmed dead as of now in the Thursday's stampede, the worst tragedy to hit the world's holiest Muslim pilgrimage in 25 years, while over 800 are injured.