Death toll from stampede at Saudi hajj pilgrimage rises to 310

In this image posted on the official Twitter account of the directorate of the Saudi Civil Defense agency, rescuers respond to a stampede that killed and injured pilgrims in the holy city of Mina during the annual hajj pilgrimage on Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015. (Directorate of the Saudi Civil Defense agency via AP)

MINA, Saudi Arabia — At least 310 people were killed and 450 hurt Thursday in a stampede during the annual hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia’s civil defense service said, as the death toll from the tragedy continued to rise.

“The counting (of the victims) continues and the number of dead has reached 310 people of different nationalities,” it said on Twitter after the incident in Mina which also left hundreds injured.

Saudi Arabia’s civil defense service released the toll and said rescue operations were under way after the stampede in Mina, where almost two million pilgrims were taking part in the last major rite of the hajj.

It was not immediately clear what had caused the stampede.

Pilgrims had converged on Mina just outside Mecca on Thursday to throw pebbles at one of three walls representing Satan, the symbolic “stoning of the devil” that marks the last day of the event.

The world’s 1.5 billion Muslims were on Thursday marking Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, the most important holiday of the Islamic calendar.

The hajj is among the five pillars of Islam and every capable Muslim must perform it at least once in a lifetime.

In the past the pilgrimage was for years marred by stampedes and fires, but it had been largely incident-free for nearly a decade following safety improvements.

Preparations for this year’s hajj were marred when on September 11 a construction crane collapsed at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site, killing 109 people.

In January 2006, 364 pilgrims were killed in a stampede during the stoning ritual in Mina.

Originally posted at 4:30 p.m.

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