Iran Continues Pursuing Fate of Nationals Missing after Mina Crush
Saeed Ohadi said a 5-strong team from Iran’s Legal Medicine Organization will leave for Saudi Arabia to help determine the fate of those unaccounted for.
He added there is no information as of yet about 36 Iranian pilgrims who went missing after the Mina disaster.
According to Iranian officials, over 4,700 pilgrims, including 465 Iranians, died in a crush on September 24 in Mina, near the holy city of Makkah while performing Hajj rituals.
The incident marked the worst ever Hajj disaster.
Ohadi further said his organization has submitted its written objection to Saudi Arabia after a number of the Iranian victims of the crush were buried in the Arab country without Tehran’s consent.
He said that the written objection came after Saudis buried 29 Iranian victims of the tragic incident in their country.
He said Riyadh’s move came despite completion of the legal formalities for repatriation of some of the Iranian bodies.
The Saudi officials claim that the burials were inevitable for hygienic reasons, Ohadi added.
Iran’s Vice-President Mohammad Baqer Nobakht had announced on September 29 that Riyadh was not allowed to bury the dead Iranian pilgrims in the Arab country without the official procedures or permission from the victims’ families, stressing that Iran has not granted permission to Saudi Arabia to do that.
