Hajj turns deadly

last updated 8 January 2015

Mecca, Saudi Arabia

At least 244 people were killed this week in a stampede during the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, which every Muslim must make at least once. The worshipers were trampled or suffocated when a crowd of thousands surged forward to hurl seven stones at a pillar representing the devil. According to tradition, Satan appeared to the prophet Abraham on that site. Since the hajj involves some 2 million pilgrims funneling into small spaces around holy sites, deaths from overcrowding are not uncommon. “All precautions were taken to prevent such an incident,” said Saudi minister Iyad Madani. “But this is God’s will.”