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| Sunday, 8 January 2006 |
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Survivors of
Mecca pilgrim tragedy recount horror
SAUDI, Jan. 07 (AFP) - Survivors of the collapse of a hostel in the holy city of Mecca recounted Friday the horror of the latest tragedy to strike the hajj as the death toll rose to 76. "I heard one big noise," said Algerian pilgrim Tayeb Mizasha, 70, as he lay in bed in Mecca's King Faisal hospital with broken ribs and a bruised face. "At first I thought it was an earthquake." He said he was staying at the Luluat Al-Kheir (Pearl of Grace) hostel with 16 other Algerians who had come from France to perform the hajj or annual pilgrimage to Mecca. "I do not know where my wife is," said Mizasha. Interior ministry spokesman General Mansur al-Turki said the death toll had reached 76 with another 62 people wounded and that recovery operations had now been completed. Saudi authorities have so far refused to provide the nationalities of the victims. But survivors said some of the pilgrims staying in the hostel came from India, Libya, Pakistan or the United Arab Emirates. Jordan said five of its nationals were missing while officials in France said seven Algerians living in France were among those who died. In another hospital ward in Mecca, a Yemeni who worked in a clothing store on the ground floor of the building said four of his Yemeni co-workers lost their lives. "I just found myself across the street from the building and I looked up and it was a pile of rubble," said Ali Qasim al-Rimi, 35. "I do not know if I fled or someone pulled me out." A Bengali porter working at an adjacent hotel said he lost six of his compatriots. The English-language Arab News said Friday that Saudi authorities confirmed that three of the dead were Emiratis. A group of pilgrims from Egypt said they were caught in a stampede on the crowded street in the Ghazzah neighbourhood where the accident happened some 200 meters (yards) north of the Grand Mosque, the most sacred site in Mecca. |
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