Pilgrims Victims of Saudis’ Incompetence, Mismanagement
“The scope is so broad it cannot be dealt with as a natural disaster or a local issue,” Rouhani said Monday in his address before the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
He also criticized Saudi Arabia for failing to accept its responsibility for the disaster.
The Iranian chief executive called on Saudi officials to “grant immediate consular access for the identification and return of the cherished bodies and remains.”
He also said that the Saudi government must provide the necessary conditions for independent investigation into the causes of this and previous such incidents and ways for preventing such tragedies from happening again.
About 2000 pilgrims were killed in the Thursday crush in Mina when performing religious rites.
With the death toll rising, many pilgrims are still unaccounted for in the incident that marked the worst Hajj disaster in 25 years.
So far, 226 Iranian pilgrims have been pronounced dead while many Iranian nationals who went missing after the tragedy are still unaccounted for.
The incident came nearly two weeks after tens of Hajj pilgrims were killed in another tragic incident in Makkah.
On September 11, a massive construction crane crashed into Makkah’s Grand Mosque in stormy weather, killing at least 107 people, including 11 Iranians, and injuring 201 others.
Hajj, the world’s largest annual gathering of people, has already witnessed numerous deadly crushes, fires and riots in the past.
Saudi authorities have come under fire for their inability to ensure the safety of hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who converge on Makkah every year.
