Edition: U.S. / Global

1,000 Muslims Reportedly Killed In Stampede at Mecca Pilgrimage

By The Associated Press
Published: July 3, 1990

About 1,400 Muslim pilgrims suffocated or were trampled to death Monday in a stampede in a pedestrian tunnel leading to the sacred city of Mecca, witnesses and diplomats said by telephone from the Saudi Arabian city.

They said the stampede began when some pilgrims stopped in the middle of the air-conditioned tunnel and there was a rush outside with people pushing each other to escape 112-degree heat. They also said the ventilation appeared to have shut down.

An Asian diplomat who refused to be identified put the total death toll at 1,400 and said that most of the victims were Malaysian and Indonesian pilgrims.

No Official Word on Casualties

Other Middle Eastern and Asian diplomats and witnesses gave the same death toll. More than 18 hours after the disaster, Saudi officials had not given a death count. [A Saudi Government official said early Tuesday that the estimate of 1,400 was ''exaggerated,'' Reuters reported from Nicosia, Cyprus. The official, who declined to be identified, said the death toll would be announced later in the day by Prince Nayef, the Saudi Interior Minister.] King Fahd was quoted by the official Saudi news agency SPA as saying that the accident occurred because a large number of pilgrims thronged the tunnel beyond capacity.

''If the hajis had followed the instructions, the accident would have been averted,'' he was quoted as saying.

The stampede shattered what had been a peaceful observance of the annual haj, or pilgrimage, and was the worst pilgrimage disaster in recent years. Terrorist attacks and riots have marred previous observances.

It came at the end of the holiday Eid Al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, for which 2 million Muslims, including 800,000 foreigners, came to Mecca.

Ambulances and security forces rushed to the exits of the 500-yard-long tunnel that joins Mecca and the tent city of Mina, according to the Riyadh radio, which quoted an Interior Ministry spokeman in Mina.

Witnesses said people stampeded, crushing hundreds of people and suffocating hundreds of others.

People were smothered ''as thousands of the pilgrims thronged through the tunnel of Moessem, causing severe congestion within the tunnel as the pressure was beyond its capacity,'' the radio said. ''This led to some deaths and some cases of fainting.''

A witness said the flow of people through the tunnel suddenly stopped. The air-conditioned tunnel can hold up to 1,000 pedestrians, but the crowd inside quickly swelled to 5,000, he said.

''With the lack of oxygen, a good number collapsed unconscious, and some died. There was also a stampede,'' said the witness, who refused to be identified. ''There always should be movement within the tunnel, but the entire crowd suddenly stopped, and no one yet knows why.''

The witness said he helped carry victims to the ambulances waiting by the tunnel's exits, but that it was impossible to determine how many people were dead or simply unconscious.

The tunnel is part of a $15 billion development plan for the holy sites to move pilgrims in an orderly fashion for the pilgrimage, the world's largest religious gathering. The plan includes other tunnels and overhead bridges.

At the time of the disaster Monday morning, the pilgrims were taking part in rituals after the pilgrimage or were preparing to leave. Thousands of the pilgrims left Mecca later in the day.

These rituals of Eid al-Adha commemorate the Prophet Abraham's offering of his son in sacrifice to God.

Muslims celebrate the feast by slaughtering sheep to emulate Abraham's sacrifice. The Islamic faith requires that each worshiper try to attend the pilgrimage.

Previous Terrorism

Before Monday, only a small fire at Mina and a few cases of heat fatigue marred an otherwise calm pilgrimage season.

Terrorism attributed to Iran or to radical Shiite Muslims has occurred in the last three years. The worst incident was in 1987, when Iranians clashed with security forces, leading to the death of more than 400 pilgrims. In 1986, the Saudis confiscated large quantities of explosives from the Iranian contingent.

The Saudis have since set a quota of 1,000 pilgrims per million of population for each Islamic nation. Angered by the quotas, the Iranians have boycotted the pilgrimage since 1988.

Map of Saudi Arabia showing location of Mecca (pg. A3)