Hajis tell of stampede horror

Ferdous Ahmed was waiting in a queue on the third floor of Jamaraat Bridge in Mina to join the symbolic “Stoning of Satan” ritual.

It was around 9:00am (KSA local time) on September 24 when thousands of pilgrims gathered there to perform the ritual.

He didn't have the slightest of idea about the tragedy awaiting his fellow pilgrims.

He saw a crowd of pilgrims on the ground floor trying to approach the parapet of the bridge. All the entrances to the four-storey bridge were choked with pilgrims, leaving them stuck around.

“All of a sudden, I heard people screaming on the ground floor. The security personnel were forcing pilgrims out of the bridge at two points,” Ferdous told The Daily Star at Shahjalal International Airport last night after returning from Jeddah on a Biman flight.

Around 10 minutes later, he learnt that at least 200 pilgrims died on the ground floor.

Later, he heard that a royal guest of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had been there to perform Hajj rituals. To ensure his security, the law enforcers closed some entrances to the bridge, putting the pilgrims in deep trouble.

The stampede occurred as the pilgrims tried to enter the ground flood of the bridge at a time after all the gates were opened, Ferdous added.

Tofazzel Hossain and his wife were also waiting in a queue near the Jamaraat Bridge around 9:00am on the fateful day.

“At one stage, the security personnel asked the pilgrims to make space for the arrival of the Saudi prince and his companions. Consequently, there was a huge crowd and things turned bad,” said Tofazzel.

Soon they heard people and law enforcers screaming for help. They could feel that something bad happed there.

But it was not before around 11:00am when they came to know that several hundred pilgrims died there in a stampede.

The 55-year-old government employee from Feni was talking to this correspondent at the airport on Monday night after returning home from Jeddah on a Biman flight.

“People were worried and panicked. We had no scope to move forward to have an idea of what was happening around as nobody would leave the queue for fear that they would not be able to perform the stoning ritual,” he added.

His wife Jesmin Ara, 45, said the tragedy could have been avoided if the high level Saudi delegation didn't arrive there at that time.

The couple saw many ambulances and police vans arriving the area.

Some Bangladeshi pilgrims observed that the tragedy unfolded in Mina mainly due to poor security management. They claimed the roads leading to Jamaraat Bridge were choked with thousands of pilgrims after the security officials had closed two key roads.

Some other pilgrims said the incident took place mainly due to pilgrims' anxieties over the severe hot weather in Mina. The temperature was around 45 degrees Celsius.

Matiur Rahman, 60, from Barisal blamed the pilgrims' casualties on the “negligence” of Saudi authorities.

“They [Saudi authorities] just can't blame the stampede on anybody. The incident occurred due to poor security arrangement,” he observed.

Fifty-five-year-old Abul Kalam Azad from Jessore, however, said he thought the huge rush of pilgrims, lack of proper guidelines from the Saudi authorities and the anxieties among pilgrims led to the disaster.

The pilgrims urged the Saudi authorities to ensure proper management during the future Hajj seasons.