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Trinis return tomorrow

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The first batch of Trinis who survived the horrific stampede in Mecca, which left 717 pilgrims dead and 863 wounded, will return home this weekend.

Relieved families will gather at the Piarco International Airport to welcome the group tomorrow. 

Founder and chairman of Caribbean Hajj, Zabar Mohammed Baksh, said the second group would return on October 1 while the last two groups would return within a fortnight.

Asked whether he believed Trinis would be reluctant to go to Saudi Arabia for Hajj in future because of the stampede, Baksh said no. 

“Muslims are not afraid to die. The time for life and death is determined by Allah alone and we are not afraid of death,” Baksh told the T&T Guardian yesterday.

He said the latest stampede was caused by the convergence of two groups who were not supposed to meet at the same time. 

“They didn’t follow the rules of the Saudi government and this is what caused the problems,” Baksh said. 

He noted that the trip to Hajj had improved significantly since he first attended the event in 1969.

“The Saudi government has done yeoman service by erecting a five-storey building and deploying massive police and a schedule. We cannot blame the Saudi authorities for this,” Baksh said.

He said between 240 and 300 Trinis go to Hajj every year.

Foreign Affairs Minister Dennis Moses is currently out of the country, having left on Wednesday to attend the 70th United Nations General Assembly in New York next week. 

Both Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley and Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar extended condolences to the affected families on Thursday hours after the stampede occurred.

More on incident

Al Arabiya News reported yesterday that the stampede was the deadliest to strike the annual Hajj pilgrimage since 1990, where 1,426 Muslim pilgrims were trampled to death.

Thursday’s stampede began during a morning surge of pilgrims at an intersection between Streets 204 and 223, as the pilgrims were making their way toward a large structure overlooking the columns.

The multi-storey structure, known as Jamarat Bridge, is designed to ease the pressure of the crowds and prevent pilgrims from being trampled. 

Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Maj Gen Mansour al-Turki told reporters that the street in which the stampede took place “witnessed unprecedented high numbers of pilgrims” compared to previous years.


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