Death toll of Nigerian pilgrims in Hajj stampede rises to 64
Xinhua, September 30, 2015 Adjust font size:
Official death toll of Nigerians who died in last Thursday's hajj exercise in Saudi Arabia rose to 64 after ten more bodies were identified on Tuesday, an official said.
Spokesman of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria Uba Mana, who confirmed the figure to Xinhua, said 244 Nigerian pilgrims are still missing following the sad incident.
The official said 10 more pilgrims from Nigeria were injured in the stampede bringing, also, the number of injured casualties to 71. 61 people were earlier reported to have sustained injuries in the stampede.
Nigerian authorities on Monday first officially declared 54 citizens dead in the ill-fated hajj exercise in Mina.
Among the deceased Nigerian pilgrims, 46 were transported to Saudi Arabia by provincial pilgrims' welfare agencies while 18 others embarked on the pilgrimage through private tour operators, the Nigerian official said Tuesday.
The deceased pilgrims came from 15 states across Nigeria, Africa's most populous country, the official said.
On Saturday, the country started a headcount of its citizens who went on holy pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia to determine the number of pilgrims involved in the fatal incident.
In a statement on Monday, Nigerian leader Muhammadu Buhari urged the local hajj commission to speed up the census of Nigerians on holy pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi authorities said a total of 769 pilgrims died in the incident. Endit