President Rouhani Offers Condolences over Deaths of Pilgrims in Makkah
More than 1300 pilgrims, including 131 Iranians, died and many more injured in the crush.
President Rouhani extended his condolences to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian nation and the families of those killed in the tragic incident.
The president also ordered First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri to form a special task force to address the outcomes of the incident and help those wounded and other pilgrims.
The taskforce, among other things, should send over aid teams, if need be, and dispatch aircraft to Saudi Arabia in order to assist the pilgrims and the wounded and also transfer the bodies of the Iranian pilgrims killed back to the country.
Rouhani also ordered the foreign ministry and the Iranian ambassador to Saudi Arabia to pursue the rights of Iranian pilgrims and asked Riyadh to take responsibility for the disaster and fulfill its legal and Islamic obligations in this regard.
On Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei declared three days of national mourning over the heartrending incident, which happened at Mina, outside the holy city of Makkah, where some two million Muslims are performing the annual Hajj pilgrimage.
It came nearly two weeks after tens of Hajj pilgrims were killed in another tragic event in Makkah.
On September 11, a massive construction crane crashed into Makkah’s Grand Mosque in stormy weather, killing at least 107 people and injuring 201 others.
Saudi authorities have been blasted for their failure to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who converge on Makkah for Hajj every year.
http://iqna.ir/fa/News/3367137
