DHAKA: At least 453 people have been killed in a stampede at the annual Hajj pilgrimage.

Saudi Arabia’s civil defense directorate said, as the death toll continued to rise, reports Al Jazeera.

The directorate said at least 719 other pilgrims were injured in Thursday’s stampede, which took place in Mina, on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca.

The injured have been evacuated to four different hospitals in the Mina region, according to a civil defense spokesman.

Mina is where pilgrims carry out a symbolic stoning of the devil by throwing pebbles against three stone walls. It also houses more than 160,000 tents where pilgrims spend the night during the pilgrimage.

Al Jazeera’s Basma Atassi, reporting from Mina, said the incident took place in a street between pilgrim camps.

‘The street where it happened is named Street 204. This stampede did not happen at the site of the stoning of the devil ritual, which was happening today.’

‘During and after the stampede the pilgrims continued to flock into Mina to perform the devil stoning ritual.’

BBC Hausa Service correspondent Tchima Illa Issoufou, who was with some of those affected in Mina, said there were many pilgrims from Niger among the dead.

** At least 310 killed in Saudi Arabia

BDST: 1751 HRS, SEPT 24, 2015
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