Mina, Saudi Arabi: The death toll could rise to 300 in Saudi Arabia where Muslim pilgrims were crushed to death on Thursday during a stoning ritual on the last day of the Haj, medical sources said.
"It's likely to be around 300 in the end," said a medic in Mina outside the holy city of Makkah. Medical sources earlier said more than 100 people died.
The BBC reported that 345 people have been killed, quoting officials.
The Saudi Interior Ministry said earlier in a statement that an unknown number of people had been killed in the crush at the eastern entrance of Mina's Jamarat Bridge after pilgrims jostled to perform the stoning ritual between noon and sunset.
Earlier, journalists counted at least 50 bodies lined up on the ground and covered in white shrouds - some being placed on lorries by medics.
Another seven bodies were counted separately in another area of the road in Mina, a narrow valley outside Makkah.
"I saw a truck full of bodies loaded already at the site, so the number must be larger," said one witness who also counted at least 50 bodies.
Ambulances were arriving on the scene, but pilgrims were still moving up onto the bridge to carry out the stoning ritual before evening prayers.
The crush was the second tragedy to hit this year's pilgrimage. Last week, 76 people were killed when a hostel in the holy city of Mecca collapsed in a narrow street. before evening prayers.
"It (the crush) was the result of a large number of personal belongings being dropped and because large numbers of pilgrims insisted on doing the stoning in the afternoon," the Saudi Interior Ministry said in a statement on state news agency SPA. before evening prayers.
"Pilgrims fell over and crushed each other at the eastern entrance to the Jamarat, leading to the death and injury of a number of pilgrims," the statement said.
More than two million pilgrims were performing the final rites of this year's Haj on Thursday.
Deadly stampedes have marred the five-day pilgrimage in previous years.
Some 250 pilgrims were crushed to death in 2004 at Jamarat Bridge, on which the millions of pilgrims must stand while they hurl stones at three thick walls in a symbolic casting out of the devil and rejection of temptation.
Saudi Arabia has revamped the Jamarat area by expanding the stoning targets and provided an unprecedented security blanket including 60,000 security men to control the huge crowd and avert possible attacks by militants.
After this year's Hhaj, the Jamarat bridge will be replaced with a more elaborate bridge involving a four-level system of entrances and exits to the three walls, including a subway, and costing 4.2 billion Saudi riyals ($1.12 billion).
