Iran
has led growing criticism of Saudi Arabia after at least 717 people
died and 863 were injured in a stampede near the holy city of Mecca on
Thursday.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council accused the
Saudis of "incompetence" and urged them to "take responsibility" for the
deaths.
Nigeria has dismissed remarks by the Saudi health minister blaming pilgrims for "not following instructions".
King Salman has ordered a safety review for the Hajj pilgrimage.
The
crush occurred at 09:00 local time (06:00 GMT) on Thursday as two
million pilgrims were taking part in the Hajj's last major rite.
The
pilgrims throw seven stones at pillars called Jamarat, which stand at
the place where Satan is believed to have tempted the Prophet Abraham.
With
temperatures around 46C, two massive lines of pilgrims converged on
each other at right angles at an intersection close to the five-storey
Jamarat Bridge in Mina, a large valley about 5km (3 miles) from Mecca.
This is the deadliest incident to occur during the pilgrimage in 25 years.
It is also the second disaster to strike in two weeks, after a crane collapsed at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing 109 people.
Iran,
Saudi Arabia's regional rival, has reported the greatest number of
deaths among foreign nationals - 131 - and has reacted with the greatest
anger.
On
Friday, the spokesman for its Supreme National Security Council, Keyvan
Khosravi, told the Isna news agency: "The unavoidable fact is that the
Saudi government has been incompetent in this regard and with regard to
the management of the Hajj pilgrimage, and Riyadh must accept
responsibility for this."
He was echoing Supreme Leader Ayatollah
Ali Khamenei, who said on Thursday that Saudi "mismanagement and
improper actions have caused this catastrophe".
Iran has declared
three days of national mourning. Protesters marched in Tehran shouting
slogans against Saudi Arabia's ruling al-Saud family.
Alaeddin
Boroujerdi, head of an Iranian parliamentary committee for national
security, called on other Islamic countries to lodge protests with the
Saudis.
The incident may worsen relations between the two
countries, already strained by opposing stances on the conflicts in
Syria and Yemen.
Deaths reported so far by nationality
- Iran: 131
- India: 14
- Egypt: 8
- Pakistan: 6
- Senegal: 5
- Tanzania: 4
- Turkey: 4
- Indonesia: 3
- Kenya: 3
- Nigeria: 3
- Netherlands: 1
- Burundi: 1
- Other nationalities (numbers not yet known): Niger; Chad
Saudi helplines: 00966 125458000 and 00966 125496000
Timeline: Deadliest stampedes
The
Saudis have spent billions on improving transport and other
infrastructure since the last major Hajj incident nine years ago. The
millions of pilgrims who come each year
also bring billions of dollars to the Saudi economy.
Saudi
Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayyef, who chairs the Hajj
committee, has begun an immediate inquiry into the tragedy, with "fast"
results promised.
Offering his condolences to the relatives of the
dead, King Salman said: "We have instructed concerned authorities to
review the operations plan and to raise the level of organisation and
management to ensure that the guests of God perform their rituals in
comfort and ease."
The number of pilgrims was fewer on Friday, AFP reported, and there was more organisation from the authorities at entry points.
Health
Minister Khaled al-Falih told el-Ekhbariya television that if pilgrims
"had followed instructions, this type of accident could have been
avoided".
Hundreds of protesters marched in Tehran after Friday prayers, condemning the Saudi authorities
The roads leading to the stoning site at Jamarat
Pilgrims throw stones at pillars at the place where Satan is believed to have tempted Abraham
One Mecca resident, Fathima Mohamed, told the BBC:
"I was in the crowd and most people... are very peaceful. Then you get
the young people and the heat is quite unrelenting. People want to do it
quickly, they want to finish everything and because of the fact that it
would get hot, people were pushing."
However, the head of
Nigeria's Hajj delegation, the Emir of Kano Muhammadu Sanusi II, told
the BBC the crush "happened on the designated ways for incoming and
outgoing pilgrims to the site, [where they were] crossing each other" -
something he said should not have happened.
"We are therefore urging the Saudi authorities not to apportion blame to the pilgrims for not obeying instructions."
In addition to the dead, more than 850 people were injured
Those who survived said there was no room to move as the disaster unfolded
The UK Foreign Office said it was urgently seeking more information about whether British nationals were involved.
The
Hajj is the fifth and final pillar of Islam. It is the journey that
every able-bodied adult Muslim must undertake at least once in their
lives if they can afford it.
Regional media: Saudis attacked and defended
Lebanon's
pro-Hezbollah al-Diyar newspaper says the Muslim world "has been shaken
in its entirety". In Egypt, a banner in al-Dustur reads "Blood on the
Jamarat Bridge", alongside images of rows of dead bodies.
There
is some strong criticism of Saudi Arabia. Syria's al-Ba'th blames the
government for its "failure" to manage the Hajj properly while Iran's
al-Vefagh quotes an official as saying that Riyadh has shown for years
that it is "inadequate" in handling the stone-throwing ritual.
However,
the Qatari newspaper al-Rayah says the organisers "are not to blame.
The kingdom has proved its competence in handling the Hajj". A
commentator in Bahraini daily al-Wasat accuses Riyadh's critics of
"gloating over what happened", saying "Saudi Arabia did nothing wrong".
Saudi
pro-government dailies are similarly defensive. "Nobody should
criticise the kingdom, given the efforts it makes to serve pilgrims",
al-Watan says, adding that Saudi Arabia would "spare no efforts" in its
investigations.
