Saudis blame stampede on pilgrims

MECCA -- Pilgrims who ignored instructions to leave behind baggage and others who joined the rituals illegally, swelling the huge crowds, caused the stampede that killed 363 people during the Islamic hajj pilgrimage, Saudi authorities said yesterday.

The Interior Ministry defended the performance of security forces, saying they intervened within minutes and saved lives when the disaster occurred Thursday at al-Jamarat, a giant platform where three pillars representing the devil are located. Pilgrims pelt the pillars with stones in a symbolic purging of their sins.

Some 600,000 pilgrims were squeezed in at the main eastern entrance ramp to the platform when about a dozen people stumbled over baggage, tripping others behind them, ministry spokesman Major General Mansour al-Turki told reporters.

Saudi Arabia appeared eager to avert criticism that it has not done enough to prevent stampedes that have plagued the stoning ritual over the past two decades. The Saudi royal family draws legitimacy from its role as custodian of Islam's holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina.

Next week, Saudi authorities will begin tearing down the current platform and building a new four-level one with more access ramps to accommodate the millions of pilgrims, Turki said. The new platform is to be finished within two years.

Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz called on Saudi clerics to issue fatwas, or religious edicts, allowing pilgrims to carry out the stoning before noon to spread out the crowds, a change in a centuries-old tradition.

''The number of pilgrims is only going to increase in the coming years, so there must be solutions so that this sort of incident is not repeated," Prince Nayef said, adding that a commission would study the accident and make recommendations.

Turki said security forces ''were alerted to the incident immediately once it was seen through observation cameras, and moved in within two minutes."

The cause of the stampede ''can be linked to the dynamics of the crowds," Turki said, giving journalists a detailed analysis of the stampede, complete with security camera footage of the pilgrims and computer images of the platform.

Many people ignored police requests that they leave their baggage at a separate site nearby.

''So we see a lot of umbrellas and other belongings. This leads to a great deal of stumbling among the pilgrims," Turki said. ''There are people carrying plastic bags, water bottles. . . . Some pilgrims drop their belongings because they're a burden."

The stoning ritual lasts for three days, and most pilgrims stay in a tent city erected in the surrounding desert valley of Mina. On Thursday, many were heading directly from the stoning back to nearby Mecca to finish the hajj, and some carried their belongings. Others had sacks of food and water for the long, hot day.