Foreign Toll Figures Show Hajj Tragedy Deadliest in History

Death toll of stampede at the hajj has risen to at least 1,608, making it the deadliest incident in history.

Bodies of people who died in a crush in Mina, Saudi Arabia during the annual hajj pilgrimage, are seen on Thursday, September 24, 2015. (Photo: AP)

The death toll from last month’s stampede at the hajj has risen to at least 1,608, according to tallies given by foreign officials, making it the deadliest incident in the pilgrimage’s history.

Saudi Arabia has yet to provide an updated death toll after saying two days after the stampede that 769 Muslim pilgrims had died. Saudi authorities have also not provided a breakdown by nationality.

Hundreds of pilgrims have also not been accounted for following the September 24 stampede at the hajj, one of the largest annual gatherings in the world.

But many foreign governments have provided numbers on pilgrims killed from their countries and an AFP tally shows the death toll has overtaken the 1,426 pilgrims who died in the hajj’s worst previous incident – a tunnel stampede in July 1990.