DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A crush and stampede last month outside of Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca killed at least 1,399 people during the annual hajj pilgrimage to the kingdom, an Associated Press count showed Thursday, nearly 600 more than the official death toll.
The AP count of dead from the disaster — the worst tragedy to strike the hajj in a quarter-century — is based on tolls offered by 18 countries through their officials or state media broadcasts. The tolls are said to only include those killed in the disaster at Mina, near Mecca.
That puts the Sept. 24 tragedy, with hundreds still reported missing, even closer to the deadliest disaster to ever strike the hajj. A stampede in 1990 killed 1,426 people at an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to holy sites in Mecca.
Saudi officials have said their official figure of 769 killed and 934 injured in the Mina disaster remains accurate. Iran claims 4,700 people died, without providing evidence.
The Associated Press
