Ibri: An Omani man has gone missing after the deadly stampede on Thursday outside Makkah.
The man had been identified as Anwar Al Sinani of Sur province.
Eisa Al Busaidi, the head of Oman’s Haj mission, said that Omani and Saudi authorities were coordinating to find the missing citizen, and denied rumours on social media that the man had been found dead. Al Busaidi said that five Omani pilgrims sustained light to medium injuries in the stampede. They were all discharged from Saudi hospitals on Friday and are all in stable conditions.
At least 719 pilgrims were killed and 805 others injured in the crush at Mina, a few kilometres east of Makkah, caused by a morning surge of pilgrims at the intersection of streets 204 and 223 as the faithful were making their way towards a large structure overlooking the columns for performing the “stoning of the devil” ritual, according to the Saudi civil defence directorate.
The multi-story structure, known as Jamarat Bridge, is designed to ease the pressure of the crowds and prevent pilgrims from being trampled. Ambulance sirens blared as rescue crews rushed the injured to nearby hospitals.
Thursday’s disaster was the worst to befall the pilgrimage since July 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims were crushed to death in a tunnel near Makkah. Both stampedes occurred on Eid Al Adha.
Meanwhile, the two Omanis who were injured when a massive crane crashed at Makkah’s Grand Mosque earlier this month returned home for further medical treatment. The two injured pilgrims, identified as Salim Al Hajri and Ali Al Wahaibi, recalled the horror of the crane incident to Gulf News earlier this month.
“When the crane fell, it divided into large fragments. One of the big pieces injured my two legs, cutting through to my nerves. It also hit my head and my hands,” said Al Hajri.
Some pilgrims helped Al Hajri as he couldn’t move or walk, by taking him to a safer place.
“What I remembered was that I saw a man whose body was cut into two parts after the large part of the crane fell on him,” said Al Hajri.
Al Wahaibi sustained an electric shock from the wires that were cut when the crane collapsed. He jumped on other pilgrims to avoid electrocution and escaped with a fractured leg.
Al Wahaibi told Gulf News on Saturday that they couldn’t performed Haj this year due to the fracture in the legs he sustained.
“The Omani Haj mission as well as the Omani embassy in Riyadh provided us with the air tickets to Muscat.”
Both Al Hajri and Al Wahaibi are still undergoing medical treatment at Khoula hospital in Muscat.
