28th September, 2015
Last Thursday’s stampede during the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, that resulted in the death of over 769 people was a horrendous incident that stunned the world. Apart from the large number of those who died, 934 others suffered injuries during the stampede in this deadliest accident to occur in the Hajj since the 1990 stampede that killed 1,426 people. Sadly, what happened last Thursday clearly shows that the Saudi government did not learn from the 1990 episode. The Mina incident happened in less than two weeks after a crane collapsed on 11 September and killed 120 people. 394 worshipers were also injured in that crane incident.
At the last count, at least 60 Nigerians, some of them prominent people, died in the Mina stampede while scores of others were injured. A number of Nigerians also died in the crane incident. The Saudi authorities that should be held responsible for poor crowd control and lax security measures that led to the stampede are passing the buck rather than own up for their ineptitude. They are blaming unruly African pilgrims for the stampede rather than apologise for this avoidable tragedy.
We align with Iran which has strongly criticised Saudi Arabia for mishandling the annual pilgrimage. From all indications, the Saudi authorities have become complacent and have failed to put adequate safety measures in place to deal with the millions of people from across the world that come to the Holy Land to perform the annual religious rite.
The Saudi authorities have allowed the economic benefits of the pilgrimage to overshadow their concerns for the safety of the pilgrims. The annual event is a huge revenue earner for Saudi Arabia. There appears to be no single, bigger global tourism event than the Hajj where millions of faithful gather at a city at a time to observe the Islamic rite. It is in the light of this that everything ought to have been done to safeguard the lives of the pilgrims in that country.
The Hajj tragedy should be thoroughly investigated to get to the root of its cause. Consequently, Saudi rulers should be dragged before international court of justice for their negligence. They should adequately compensate families of the victims of that monumental tragedy. This must not happen again.