At least 48 stampede victims from Indonesia

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.