Saudis release photos of Hajj stampede victims, confusion over Bangladeshi victims

Saudi Arabia has released 650 photographs of Hajj pilgrims killed in the Mina stampede and Bangladesh’s foreign ministry on Sunday identified three of its nationals from these victims.

It corrected the statement later when a man with one of the victims confirmed his family in Bangladesh that it was not his body.

It did not clarify whether or not he was a Bangladesh national.

Another family confirmed the ministry about the death of a woman. Her photo was not in those published by the Saudi authorities.

“Officials of Bangladesh Consulate General are trying to confirm the identity of the dead body as well as other victims of the incident,” it said in a separate statement, hours after the first statement confirming the death of three Bangladeshis.

In the earlier statement, the foreign ministry said Md Shahidul Islam from Khulna and Aminur Rahman from Savar had been confirmed as the victims among the Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims.

The identity of the third Bangladeshi national killed in the stampede could not be confirmed.

As the news spread, the younger son of one Aminur Rahman from Savar, Atiqur Rahman Asif, told bdnews24.com that the body was not of his missing father.

The foreign ministry later in the evening said Bangladesh Consulate General in Jeddah informed them that the relatives accompanying Aminur Rahman, after verifying the photos, confirmed that it was not his body.

The worst-ever Hajj stampede in the last 25 years killed at least 769 and left 934 others injured on Sep 24 at Mina when pilgrims were moving to ‘stone the devil’.

Saudi authorities started to release the photos of the dead on Saturday. The Foreign Office said its mission identified the Bangladeshi nationals based on the 650 photos released so far.

Bangladesh expects the remaining photos to be released by Monday.

Members of Hajj pilgrims’ families, however, claimed nine Bangladeshis died in the disaster though none was identified by the authorities.

The foreign ministry said the number of missing Bangladeshi pilgrims was “yet to be ascertained”.

The Bangladesh Hajj Mission in Makkah has displayed photographs of “probable” Bangladeshi victims for identification by Hajj agents, relatives and acquaintances.

Hajj pilgrims, their companions and relatives, Hajj guides and agents have been requested to report the missing to 00966(0)537375859 and 00966(0)509360082.