About 2m people are performing the Muslim hajj pilgrimage this year including 70,000 Nigerians and hundreds died during a stampede earlier in the week. Nigeria is one of the countries that sends the highest number of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia annually and as a result is likely to have one of the highest casualty rates in the latest tragedy.
Yesterday, Nahcon confirmed that among the dead were the first female editor from northern Nigeria Hajiya Bilkisu Yusuf and a prominent academic Professor Tijjani Almiskin. As the body count rises, more Nigerians are being identified as being among the dead and the final figure could end being high.
Nahcon chairman Alhaji Abdullahi Mukhtar, said: "For now, investigation is still ongoing and we are still trying to get the total number of Nigerian pilgrims who died and sustained different degree of injuries. However, so far, we have identified 30 of the corpses and unfortunately, the figures may increase."
Saudi Arabia's health minister has said that the stampede may have been caused by pilgrims failing to follow instructions from authorities. Prince Khalid al-Falih, said an investigation would be conducted urgently into the worst disaster to strike the annual hajj pilgrimage for 25 years.
Saudi king, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, said he had ordered a review of the hajj plans after the disaster, in which two large groups of pilgrims collided with each other at a crossroad in Mina, a few kilometres east of Mecca, on their way to performing the stoning of the devil ritual at Jamarat. The findings of the investigation will be submitted to King Salman once they are completed.
President Muhammadu Buhari has already extended his condolences to the families of the over 700 pilgrims who lost their lives in the disaster. He called on King Salman to ensure a comprehensive and thorough exercise that would identify any flaws in hajj organisation with a view to avoiding a recurrence of such tragedies during the annual pilgrimage.
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