Can you imagine that, over 700 people dead in the stampede ::: At least 717 people taking part in the Hajj pilgrimage have been killed in a stampede near the Islamic holy city of Mecca, the BBC reports. The Saudi civil defence directorate said in a statement that the stampede occurred at around 06:00 (09:00 GMT) at the junction of Street 204 and Street 223, as pilgrims walked towards the five-storey structure which surrounds the pillars, known as the Jamarat Bridge. The incident happened when there was a “sudden increase” in the number of pilgrims heading towards the pillars, the statement said. This “resulted in a stampede among the pilgrims and the collapse of a large number of them”,Security personnel and the Saudi Red Crescent were “immediately” deployed to prevent more people heading towards the area, the directorate said. The Saudi health minister, Khaled al-Falih, said the crush occurred because pilgrims failed to follow directions.
