BANGKOK, 24 September 2015 – The Thai Hajj Affairs Office has confirmed no Thai Hajj pilgrim was killed or injured by a stampede near the Islamic holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.
According to the Thai Hajj Affairs Office, 453 people were killed and 719 injured in the incident taking place on Street 204—one of the streets leading to stone throwing at Mina. The area was a resting area and route used by pilgrims from other country. Thai pilgrims and those from other Southeast Asian countries stayed on the side of Mina.
In this image released by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims make their way to cast stones at a pillar symbolizing the stoning of Satan in a ritual called “Jamarat,” the last rite of the annual hajj, on the first day of Eid al-Adha, in Mina on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2015. (Saudi Press Agency via AP)
The Thai Hajj Affairs office stressed that the stampede did not happen in the area and the route Thai pilgrims used to travel to the pillars. They were not among the deaths and injured, said the office.
