Saudi officials confirm Mecca stampede death toll

Saudi Arabia’s interior ministry has said that the 1,100 photos distributed to foreign diplomats to help identify nationals who died in the hajj tragedy cover deaths from the entire pilgrimage and not just the disaster near Mecca.

Interior ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki told reporters that the pictures given to diplomats also include people who died of natural causes.

Photos of the 111 people who died when a crane crashed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque on September 11th were also among the batch sent out to diplomats.

Death toll

Saudi authorities said that the death toll from the crush of pilgrims in Mina, near the holy city of Mecca, is still 769 people.

Officials in India and Pakistan had said on Monday that Saudi officials gave their diplomats some 1,090 pictures of those killed in last Thursday's disaster in Mina.

Iran's president Hassan Rouhani stated in a speech that thousands of people had died in the stampede of Muslim pilgrims - substantially more than the official death toll.

He blamed the deaths on Saudi “incompetence”.

PA