At least 48 stampede victims from Indonesia

A. Junaidi and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government confirmed on Monday that 48 Indonesian pilgrims were among 251 victims of Sunday's stampede in a valley near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during a stone-throwing ritual. As of Monday, the government had only been able to identify 39 of the dead Indonesian pilgrims.

According to the Saudi Arabian government, there were at least 54 Indonesian victims, making them the largest number of victims by nationality.

"As of this evening, 48 Indonesians were confirmed dead. Five people whose faces look like Malay or Indonesian people have not been positively identified," Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said on Monday.

Kalla, who spoke in his capacity as ad interim minister of religious affairs as the incumbent minister is on pilgrimage in Mecca, revealed that several Indonesian pilgrims had not returned to their home bases.

He revealed that the incident happened at 11 a.m local time, or 3 p.m. western Indonesian time, when about two million people were throwing stones at three pillars in Mina.

"Actually it was planned that only 200,000 people were to be at the place at that time. It seemed many people wanted to do it more quickly, including dozens of Indonesian pilgrims," Kalla added.

He revealed that the pilgrims from Indonesia and other Southeast Asian countries had been scheduled to carry out the ritual at the site between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m. When the incident occurred, Kalla said, it was the turn of the Arab and African countries.

"Saudi Arabia planned the working of the haj. It's really out of control," the minister said.

Kalla said the relatives of the dead victims would receive insurance payments worth two times the cost of their pilgrimages. The annual pilgrimage costs an average of US$2,750.

"Meanwhile, the relatives of those who died from illness will receive 100 percent of the cost," he said.

As of Monday evening, 136 Indonesian pilgrims had died of various illnesses in Saudi Arabia.

Kalla revealed that President Megawati had asked him to express her condolences over the deaths, and hoped the relatives of the pilgrims would be given the strength to cope with their bereavement.

Separately, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda said on Monday that the Indonesian government would not file a complaint with the Saudi Arabian government over the deaths of the Indonesian pilgrims.

The tragedy occurred after some people fell as the two-million strong crowd surged towards the Jamarat Bridge in Mina to throw stones at pillars representing the devil.

The crush occurred on the first day of the Idul Adha, a Muslim feast to commemorate Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son Ismail at God's command.

Khaled al-Marghalani, spokesman for the Saudi health ministry, said that 198 of those injured in the stampede were discharged and 46 remained hospitalized. They were in stable condition, he said.

According to Agence France-Presse the pilgrims massed Monday to repeat the "stoning Satan" ritual despite the rampage on Sunday. Before dawn, a vanguard of the faithful were already pouring on to the esplanades, where three stone pillars represent the devil, to join the last major act of the annual pilgrimage.

The formal "stoning of Satan" was not scheduled to start until after midday (09:00 GMT) but many were already lobbing pebbles at the symbols of evil, watched over by hundreds of police. A tide of white-robed Muslims was gathered around the site by mid-morning as helicopters flew overhead monitoring the flow. There were no traces left of the tragedy that struck Sunday morning.

Meanwhile, Chinese President Hu Jintao ordered diplomatic staff in Saudi Arabia to look for three Chinese citizens still missing, saying staff should "take every measure necessary" to assist Saudi authorities, treat the injured and make funeral arrangements for the deceased, Xinhua said.

The president, who made his comments while on a state visit to the Central African nation of Gabon, also sent condolences to Saudi Arabia's King Fahd.