July 3 - The Mecca Tunnel Tragedy

This Day in History: 3 July 2020

 

3 July 1990

 

30 years ago, today, a stampede of religious pilgrims in a tunnel in Mecca left more than 1,400 people dead. To the followers of Islam, travelling to Mecca in Saudi Arabia is known as performing the Hajj, a pilgrimage that must be done at least once in a Muslim's lifetime. More than two million people make the journey every year, and typically, the feast of Al-Adha is celebrated, and holy sites are visited. However, some of these rituals have led to tragedy, especially in Mina, the birthplace of the prophet Mohammed, the founder of the Islamic faith.

 

In Mina, there is a giant pillar representing the devil, which pilgrims throw stones at. In 1994, 270 people died as too many rushed forward to participate in the stoning. A similar situation occurred in 1998, killing at least 110 people. A stampede in Mina also occurred in 2003, killing another 244 pilgrims. However, stampedes are not the only source of tragedy, as a fire in a tent in Mina also killed 340 people in 1997. Two plane crashes in 1991 carrying pilgrims back home also disastrously killed many. In the 1990 stampede, organisational failures by law enforcement and enormous crowd sizes resulted in the deaths of 1,426 who were crushed or suffocated to death. In the aftermath, safety measures were undertaken, but with little success, as in 2015, another deadly stampede occurred in Mina.

 

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