hamptonroads.cox.net/cci/newsnational/national?_mode=view&_state=maximized&view=article&id=D8F35BT02

MECCA, Saudi Arabia --  Muslim pilgrims rushing to complete a symbolic stoning ritual on the last day of the hajj tripped over luggage Thursday, and an unknown number of people were killed in the ensuing stampede, the Interior Ministry said. The Al-Arabiya network said dozens died.

The stampede occurred as tens of thousands of pilgrims filed past al-Jamarat, a series of three pillars representing the devil that the faithful pelt with stones to purge themselves of sin.

The ritual has seen deadly stampedes in the past, including one in 1990 that killed 1,426 people and another in February 2004 that killed 244.

A ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, said the stampede happened as pilgrims were rushing to complete the last of three days of the stoning ritual before sunset. Some pieces of luggage spilled from moving buses at one entrance to al-Jamarat, causing pilgrims to trip and pile up, al-Turki said.

Al-Turki said there were deaths, but he could not give an exact number.

The pillars are located on a large pedestrian bridge, the width of an eight-lane highway over the desert plain of Mina outside the holy city of Mecca. A number of ramps lead up the bridge to give pilgrims access to the site, and the stampede occurred at the base of one ramp.

The stampede took place despite Saudi efforts to improve traffic for the massive crowds of pilgrims at the site, where all 2.5 million pilgrims participating in the annual hajj move from pillar to pillar to throw their stones, then exit.

Saudi authorities recently widened the bridge and built extra ramps and increased the time pilgrims can carry out the rite _ traditionally done between sunrise and sunset.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The worst disasters included:

Jan. 5, 2006: At least 53 people killed when four-storey building used as a hostel collapsed near Grand Mosque in Mecca.

Feb. 1, 2004: 251 pilgrims killed and a similar number injured, some critically, in a stampede during devil-stoning ritual in Mina, a pilgrimage site about six kilometres from Mecca.

Feb. 11, 2003: 14 trampled to death during devil-stoning ritual in Mina.

March 5, 2001: 35 killed in stampede during devil-stoning ritual in Mina.

April 9, 1998: Some 180 pilgrims trampled to death when panic erupted after several fell from overpass during devil-stoning ritual in Mina.

April 15, 1997: Fires driven by high winds tear through sprawling, overcrowded tent city at Mina, killing more than 340 pilgrims and injuring 1,500. Aid workers and diplomats say death toll was at least 500.

May 23, 1994: 270 pilgrims, mostly Indonesian, killed in stampede in Mecca as worshippers surge toward cavern for symbolic devil-stoning ritual.

July 2, 1990: 1,426 pilgrims, many of them Malaysians, Indonesian and Pakistanis, killed in Mecca stampede in overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to holy sites. Worst hajj tragedy of modern times.

July 9, 1989: Two bombs explode in Mecca, killing one pilgrim, wounding 16. Saudi authorities blame Iranian-inspired terrorists and later behead 16 Kuwaiti Shiite Muslims for bombings. Iran denied involvement.

July 31, 1987: 402 people, mostly Iranian pilgrims, killed and 649 wounded in Mecca when security forces clash with Iranians staging illegal anti-U.S. demonstration.





If you dont learn from your mistakes your bound to repeat them over and over.

How sad.

It is the will of Allah.

And we lose six people at a Who concert and everybody wets themselves.  

It's way more interesting when an ayatollah or someone dies and they pull the corpse from the casket and tear it to pieces.  Fascinating.

Got video?

So sad, yet mildly arousing.

Sounds like Americans on November 26th trying to get the best deal and save $5 on a doll for their kid.


Stoning ritual? or maybe I should have gone and that's why they got trampled. Morons. And they say "we" are evil?

Sounds like this should be a quarterly or even bi-weekly event instead of annual.

I'm shedding a tear right now.....NOT

All I can say is  

delete please

Sorry, I am totally out of 'give a fuck'......

Quoted: Quoted: Got video? So sad, yet mildly arousing. Pics and Vid on the BBC... news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4606002.stm

"Not Found"    

D'oh!!

May they get their just reward.

I am Jack's complete lack of suprise.  This is nearly expected of the hajj.

Only 100?

It's George Bush's fault!

How 'bout that.

The Saudis aka beverly hillbillies of the middle east need to get this event a little more organized, so 200 folks don't get trampled to death every year.

As for some of the comments in this thread....

Quoted: The Saudis aka beverly hillbillies of the middle east need to get this event a little more organized, so 200 folks don't get trampled to death every year. As for some of the comments in this thread....

Thats my point. The Saudis have all the money they need to make this a smooth magic act. I think the saudis are expecting these deaths just about every year to keep the unwashed away from coming to their country year after year.

Its like abortion but just later in life.

I believe that they get 144 virgins if they die at Mecca.  Sorta like bonus points.

Solution:



Since they are unable to think for themselves and insist on behaving like crazed cattle while performing their stone-throwing rituals.  

Quoted: Quoted: The Saudis aka beverly hillbillies of the middle east need to get this event a little more organized, so 200 folks don't get trampled to death every year. As for some of the comments in this thread.... Thats my point. The Saudis have all the money they need to make this a smooth magic act. I think the saudis are expecting these deaths just about every year to keep the unwashed away from coming to their country year after year. Its like abortion but just later in life.

Nah, the Saudis need the pilgrims - their economy depends on oil and the hajj.
ETA: And the House of Saud is just plain lazy.

Begins to dance in the street, weeping tears of joy.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: The Saudis aka beverly hillbillies of the middle east need to get this event a little more organized, so 200 folks don't get trampled to death every year. As for some of the comments in this thread.... Thats my point. The Saudis have all the money they need to make this a smooth magic act. I think the saudis are expecting these deaths just about every year to keep the unwashed away from coming to their country year after year. Its like abortion but just later in life. Nah, the Saudis need the pilgrims - their economy depends on oil and the hajj. ETA: And the House of Saud is just plain lazy.

You guys have never been to the middle east have you?

Life is very cheap in the third world.

When an ordinary person dies they say simply say "Insh'Allah" (It is the will of Allah) and move on.  Sure , the family grieves, but from a social standpoint individual life is far less valued than in most first world countries.
I worked in a hospital in Riyadh. Death is considered as normal as life, at any age. Unless you are someone important, no special measures will be taken to insure your safety.  It is all "the will of Allah".


This fatalistic outlook tends to drive westerners nuts(including me), especially when you ask when your air conditioner will be fixed, and the technician replies "Soon, if Allah wills it." Grrrrrr. That used to really piss me off. They act as if they have no control over anything, and worse, have no responsibility for anything they do.

Quoted: Solution: [cattle pic] Since they are unable to think for themselves and insist on behaving like crazed cattle while performing their stone-throwing rituals.

-Yea, but then you'd have to go in and RFID all of em....
-------
-Besides, perhaps it is true? That US people are soft and lazy. Heck, every year at least a couple dozen people get killed and a couple hundred injured at Pakistani fite festivals:
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3491057.stm
....som much so that the supreme court there banned kite flying....
www.newkerala.com/news.php?action=fullnews&id=64196

In the past year, over 450 people have been killed in incidents related to kite- flying. According to a report submitted in the court, more than 1,500 people have been killed and over 10,000 injured in kite-flying incidents since 2000....

Same planet, different worlds.....
~

I just checked and we still don't care

A very good day.

Looks like that's another couple hundred good muslims.

If it is the will of allah, it will be done.....

This is why I hate big crowds.

Quoted: Begins to dance in the street, weeping tears of joy.

firing our m4geries, shrikes, and aug's into the air...

i know how to solve this broblem....if we nuked mecca than these horriffic deaths wouldn't happen any more

Death toll now in the hundreds, wounded in the thousands.

Can't they hold this thing twice a year?

how the hell do you get wounded??? the saudis using hand grenades for crowd control now???

Quoted: Death toll now in the hundreds, wounded in the thousands. Can't they hold this thing twice a year?

Why? So there can be thousands killed and tens of thousands injured?

BigDozer66

Quoted: Quoted: Death toll now in the hundreds, wounded in the thousands. Can't they hold this thing twice a year? Why? So there can be thousands killed and tens of thousands injured? BigDozer66

Exactly!

Quoted: 24,840 virgins will be required to reward them as they died on the Hajj.

There's only 72 virgin's. They'll all have to share.

This is shameful. I cannot believe how callous and cold-hearted some of you are.

These poor people that were trampled were human beings just like you and me.

How can you be so cruel and have no compassion for your fellow man.

I..........


I..........






I can't keep typing with a straight face anymore.  




BWAHAHAHAHA!

Who gives a shit?  I love it when "Allah's will" thins the herd.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: The Saudis aka beverly hillbillies of the middle east need to get this event a little more organized, so 200 folks don't get trampled to death every year. As for some of the comments in this thread.... Thats my point. The Saudis have all the money they need to make this a smooth magic act. I think the saudis are expecting these deaths just about every year to keep the unwashed away from coming to their country year after year. Its like abortion but just later in life. Nah, the Saudis need the pilgrims - their economy depends on oil and the hajj. ETA: And the House of Saud is just plain lazy. You guys have never been to the middle east have you? Life is very cheap in the third world. When an ordinary person dies they say simply say "Insh'Allah" (It is the will of Allah) and move on.  Sure , the family grieves, but from a social standpoint individual life is far less valued than in most first world countries. I worked in a hospital in Riyadh. Death is considered as normal as life, at any age. Unless you are someone important, no special measures will be taken to insure your safety.  It is all "the will of Allah". This fatalistic outlook tends to drive westerners nuts(including me), especially when you ask when your air conditioner will be fixed, and the technician replies "Soon, if Allah wills it." Grrrrrr. That used to really piss me off. They act as if they have no control over anything, and worse, have no responsibility for anything they do.

Correct and if Im lucky I never will.  I tend to shy away from 3rd world terrorist countries.
I can understand why the people in charge of the sheep would foster the kind of thinking that god control everything in their future. Keeps the sheep inline if they think god is watching out for them.

www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3197788,00.html

This is from an israel source so take it for what it is.

Hajj pilgrims: Death to Israel and America

Islamic pilgrims shout hateful slogans, hear speech on 'satanic policies of Zionism'

As two million Muslim pilgrims flooded Mecca for the annual Hajj pilgrimage, a speech said to have been written by Iranian spiritual leader Ayatollah 'Ali Khamanai was delivered by his representative for Hajj affairs, Muhammad Muhammadi Reyshahri.
The speech - one of the Hajj’s first events - spoke of "the mercenary government of Israel" and the "satanic policies of international Zionism," as well as targeting the United States.

Typical was an attack on the "colonial methods" used by the "Great Satan." During the speech, many members of the audience held up yellow placards reading "Death to America" and pink placards reading "Death to Israel.”
Comments of this nature made by the Iranian regime are far from new. But as The Media Line's analysts explain, the fact that they were expressed by an Iranian official on Saudi Arabian soil in the language of the Saudis (and not in Farsi, the Iranian language), should be a source of concern to Washington. Saudi Arabia is considered one of America's most important allies in the Middle East.

Following are some excerpts from the Khamanai speech, as read by Muhammad Muhammadi Reyshahri:

"The Muslim nations face today a post-modernist colonialism. They have to benefit from their experience, and prevent the enemy from repeating the unsheathing of its sword in the shape of oppression against their values and fate."

'Great Satan'
"Today, the fleets of the arrogants are advancing once again, using cunning methods to perpetuate and strengthen their rule over the Muslim nations. The slogan of spreading democracy and human rights is one of the deceiving methods used. The Great Satan (common phrase in Iran, depicting the United States) is incarnating evil and violence against mankind, while raising the flag of defending human rights, and calling the Middle East nations to democratize."

"America and all other usurpers mobilized all their media outlets and political forces, in order to thwart the Islamic renaissance, or to oppress it if they can. The Islamic nations must understand the situation today, and to follow it with caution. The religious clerics, the religious authorities, the intellectuals, the students, the writers, the poets, the artists, the youth, and the elite – must all take with all seriousness the appropriate initiative, in order to prevent greedy America from beginning a new phase in its colonial rule over the Islamic nations."

"The Muslim world has to get rid of the constant state of learning from others, and to rely on its own resources, aiming at scientific creativity."

"The blind and brutal terror, which the occupiers use as an excuse to attack Islam and Muslims, and to continue their military invasion, is something that the Islamic values reject and denounce."  

When The Media Line presented the above excerpts to the U.S. State Department for comment, a spokesman replied that, “Remarks such as these are outrageous and unacceptable. These remarks reflect an openly anti-Semitic and anti-U.S. platform from Iranian leadership that we find both troubling and destabilizing. We have been very clear about the troubling nature of Iranian behavior including its support for international terrorism, its pursuit for weapons of mass destruction, its deplorable human rights record, and its opposition to regional peace-making efforts.”

Saudi Arabian officials and the Ministry of Hajj failed to respond to numerous requests for comment by The Media Line.


Maybe there is a God ?

Death Toll Rises to 345 in Hajj Stampede

Quoted: Quoted: Death toll now in the hundreds, wounded in the thousands. Can't they hold this thing twice a year? Why? So there can be thousands killed and tens of thousands injured? BigDozer66

A plan I can get behind

Quoted: The Saudis aka beverly hillbillies of the middle east...

LMFAO

So did someone see a pig or a hog and panic?  That would be classic.  "Someone yelled PIG and we all panicked, it was horrible."

Good riddance.

release a hog with explosives strapped to it's body.

Nighty-night. Hope Allah's got vacancies.