41 Bangladeshis identified among dead in Mina stampede, 61 in hospitals: Foreign ministry

Bangladesh officials in Saudi Arabia have so far identified 41 Bangladeshi pilgrims among those who died in a stampede in Mina, near the city of Makkah, on Sep 24.

In a statement on Thursday, the foreign ministry said the Bangladesh mission in Jeddah had so far identified 41 bodies.
 
“Out of these 41, the identity of 18 pilgrims has been confirmed, names of 12 have been found and the remaining 11 are unnamed,” reads the release by the ministry.
 
It also said that 61 Bangladeshis were being treated at different hospitals in Makkah and Jeddah.
 
Saudi authorities will release the details of unidentified pilgrims after their fingerprint records are retrieved from the database, said the statement.
 
The foreign ministry sought support from accompanying pilgrims and hajj agents of those missing, asking them to contact the Bangladesh Hajj Mission at Makkah (Room No 107, phone- 00966-(0)125413980, [e-mail]) to help identify bodies.

According to the Saudi authorities, 769 pilgrims were killed and 934 were injured in Mina when they were heading to Jamarat for the ‘stoning of the devil’ ritual.

But Iran claims the death toll was over four thousand, a figure echoed by pilgrims now in Saudi Arabia.

A Bangladesh national, who is now in Makkah, told bdnews24.com that he thinks the actual death toll is way more than the official figure.

“There are a lot of unidentified bodies in hospitals here. Some of them are mutilated,” he said, adding that there was no internet connection in Makkah for two days.

According to him, most of the pictures of unidentified bodies posted on the walls were of African origin.