Count of Bangladeshis killed may rise

Golam Moshi, Bangladesh ambassador to Saudi Arabia, fears that the number of Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims killed in the September 24 stampede in Mina may rise.

”The death toll has been 28 so far and it will possibly go up,” he told The Daily Star over the phone yesterday.

A private Hajj agent in Bangladesh, wishing not to be named, claimed that the toll could reach 50.

”The authorities concerned, to some extent, are unwilling to announce the exact number,” he alleged.  

Golam Moshi said 66 Bangladeshis, who were victims of the stampede or fell sick during the Hajj rituals, were being treated at different hospitals in Saudi Arabia.

AKM Shahidul Karim, consul general of the Bangladesh consulate in Jeddah, on Tuesday said 138 other Bangladeshi pilgrims have been missing since the incident in Mina.

The Saudi authorities officially put the death figure at 769 and the number of those injured at 934. But some diplomats of foreign countries there claimed that the death toll would exceed 1,000.

Meanwhile, Mohammad Borhan Uddin, joint secretary of Bangladesh's religious affairs ministry, yesterday said the tenure of the country's temporary Hajj mission in Saudi Arabia had been increased by 45 days.

“We extended the period so that the Hajj mission officials there can help complete the burial of the dead Bangladeshis, take care of the injured and help find out the missing,” he told reporters at the ministry. 

The Arab News, a local newspaper of Saudi Arabia, yesterday reported that the Makkah Secretariat was preparing 74,700 graves across six graveyards which could accommodate some of the martyrs of the stampede in Mina among others.

The graveyards include the Maalaa Cemetery, which has space for 30,000 graves, Al-Adl Cemetery, which can take another 2,000 graves, Al-Sharea Cemetery, which has place for 22,000 graves, and Al-Haram Martyrs' Cemetery, which has enough space for another 20,000 graves.

The authorities will finalise the burial procedures upon approval of family members, while the bodies and all relevant assistance will be delivered to family members wishing to bury the victims in their homelands.