SAUDI state-run television said early this morning that 217 Muslim haj pilgrims were killed and 1,290 injured when fire tore through some 70,000 tents near Islam's holy city of Mecca yesterday.
It said King Fahd had expressed condolences on his own and his country's behalf to the families of victims from Saudi Arabia and abroad. Diplomats said earlier most of the dead were Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi.
The television said victims of various nationalities had been taken to hospital. It did not give a breakdown. Witnesses said many suffered severe burns.
They said the blaze had been caused by gas cylinder explosions. Saudi television showed security forces dragging gas cylinders away from the site of the blaze.
Witnesses said the fire burned a swath more than 2 km long through the tent camp at Mina, near Mecca.
Saudi television said the blaze, which began at 11.45 am. and spread quickly in high winds, had been extinguished by 3.05 p.m.
The fire broke out as some 2 million Muslims from 100 countries gathered in the plain of Mina - about 11 km from Mecca at the start of the centuries-old rite, the media said.
Reports earlier said at least 300 had died, most of them trampled underfoot in the panic that which followed the flames. Hundreds of thousands of others were left stranded after their tents were destroyed.
The tents were pitched close together and were engulfed by flames fanned by heavy winds and 104 temperatures. They were brought under control after several hours by firemen backed by helicopters.
"The harsh sun and gusty desert wind soon fanned the flames and it spread. Men panicked and ran in every direction," said an Indian pilgrim.
Egyptian reports spoke of witnesses hearing the explosion of gas cylinders, which are used by the pilgrims for cooking.
The fire struck as the vast army of Muslims which had gathered for the haj, or pilgrimage, was beginning to move towards Mount Arafat, where the pilgrims fulfil the rites of the annual event which is a cornerstone of their faith.
Several Saudi civil defence workers were among the wounded in the blaze.
"Most of the camps at Mina were destroyed by the fire," an Arab pilgrim said.
"Because of the strong winds, the fire spread north of Mina," the director of Saudi Arabian civil defence, Gen Muhammad ibn Ali al-Sahili, said.
The region was closed off by Saudi Arabian authorities and thousands of pilgrims were evacuated to a region outside Mina, where 10,000 tents had to be quickly set up.
Clean-up operations started at once, with workers sweeping away the charred remains of hundreds of air conditioners, mattresses and burned pages of the Koran.
Tents occupied by Iranian and Lebanese pilgrims were also burned, officials from both countries said. The Lebanese were at prayer on Mount Arafat when the blaze started.
Earlier, security forces had put a cordon around Mina, closing off the city to new arrivals to prevent further overcrowding.
Two years ago, fire ripped through a pilgrim camp near Mina during the pilgrimage, killing three people and injuring 99 - another in a series of tragedies to have plagued the hajj in recent years.
In 1994, 270 pilgrims were killed when crowds surged forward uncontrollably, while in 1990 overcrowding in a tunnel, at Mina resulted in the deaths of 1,426 people - probably after a breakdown of the ventilation system.
In 1989, a double bombing killed one person and wounded 16 others, and in 1987 around 400 Iranian pilgrims were killed in clashes with the Saudi Arabian security forces. In 1979, several hundred armed men hostile to the Saudi Arabian government barricaded themselves inside Mecca's Great Mosque for two weeks, taking pilgrims hostage. Some 153 people were killed and 560 injured.
Iran's official news agency reported a fire in the Iranian encampments on Mount Arafat, 12 miles from Mecca.
Encampments for the haj are set up by nationality. The fire at Mina broke out in a section where pilgrims from southeast Asia are housed.
Saudi Arabia has spent billions upgrading facilities and takes a pride in its ability to maintain order during one of the world's largest annual gatherings.
The Secretary-General of the UN, Mr Kofi Annan, offered condolences to the families of the victims of the fire. Mr Annan, on a visit to Italy, also extended sympathy to King Fahd and to the government and people of Saudi Arabia.