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Mali families criticize Saudi response to Mina tragedy

Wednesday, 17 February 2016 8:32 AM [ Last Update: Wednesday, 17 February 2016 9:30 AM ]

In this September 24, 2015 photo, bodies of people who died in a tragic crush in Mina, Saudi Arabia during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, lie in a street. (AP photo)

A group of families in Mali, who lost their loved ones in the last September Hajj tragedy, are planning to file complaints against Riyadh, their lawyer says.

Marcel Ceccaldi on Tuesday criticized Saudi Arabia’s response to the deadly human crush which took place in Mina, near the Saudi city of Mecca, and said that the families of the victims are considering filing complaints against Riyadh in Mali and with the European Union.

Ceccaldi also rapped the response of the Mali government to the crush.

Some 320 pilgrims from Mali lost their lives in the Mina disaster which took place on September 24, 2015 when two large masses of pilgrims were directed by Saudi authorities toward one another and fused at a crossroads in Mina. The pilgrims were on their way to participate in the symbolic stoning of Satan in Jamarat.

Saudi Arabia claims nearly 770 people were killed in the incident, but officials with Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization say about 4,700 people, including 465 Iranians, lost their lives in the tragedy.

The AP record says 2,426 pilgrims died in the incident.

Saudi Arabia has come under harsh criticism over its role and handling of the Mina incident.

Iran says Riyadh’s incompetence in handling safety at the rituals caused the deadly incident.

The Mina disaster came days after a massive construction crane collapsed into Mecca’s Grand Mosque, killing more than 100 people and leaving over 200 others wounded.

Separately, a fire at a 15-story hotel in Mecca on September 21, 2015 forced the evacuation of some 1,500 people. A fire also broke out at another hotel in the city days earlier, which left a number of foreigners injured.

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