Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 24
By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:
The death toll in Mecca's crush may increase, the civil defense ministry of Saudi Arabia said Sept. 24.
The dead pilgrims are being identified.
Some 310 people died and 450 were injured as a result of crush in Mecca.
More than 4,000 rescuers are working on the scene.
The Azerbaijani embassy in Saudi Arabia is clarifying whether the Azerbaijani citizens are among the dead and injured in Mecca's crush, Hikmet Hajiyev, the spokesman for the Azerbaijan foreign ministry, told Trend Sept. 24.
Meanwhile, the Caucasian Muslims Office is trying to contact with Azerbaijani pilgrims in Mecca, Mugaddas Payizov, the head of the international relations department of the Caucasian Muslims Office told Trend earlier.
Payizov said that there are some 2600 pilgrims from Azerbaijan in Saudi Arabia for this year's Hajj.
Pilgrims this year have been undeterred by the collapse of a construction crane in Mecca earlier this month, which killed over 100 people and injured over 200.
The crush incidents during hajj have happened before. Some 1,427 pilgrims died in a pedestrian tunnel leading from Mecca to Mina tent city in 1990, 270 more died in another crush in 1994. More deaths followed in 1997 (343 dead, 1500 injured), 1998 (118 dead), 2001 (35 dead), 2004 (251 dead) and 2006 (345 dead).
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