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Saudis pledge a safer pilgrimage

Muslims jostle on Monday to ``stone the devil'' in Mina, Saudi Arabia, a day after 251 pilgrims died carrying out the ancient ritual. PHOTO: AFP

The Muslim hajj wound down yesterday as nearly 2 million pilgrims began the trip back home. But Saudi authorities are already looking ahead to next year's pilgrimage by vowing to take measures to prevent a recurrence of the trampling deaths of hundreds of people that marred this year's hajj.

As the death toll from the "stoning the devil" ritual rose to 251, Saudi Arabia's top cleric promised on Monday that steps would be taken to avoid further tragedies at the kingdom's holy sites of Mecca and Medina.

Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah al-Sheik did not specify what measures would be taken, but it is likely that he will issue an Islamic fatwa, or edict, related directly to performing the stoning ritual.

"The Board of Senior Theologians is pained by the incident and continues to search for any means that could prevent such incidents," al-Sheik said in a statement.

Seven more pilgrims died of their injuries on Monday, the Saudi Health Ministry said.

At least 47 pilgrims remain hospitalized, the Saudi Press Agency reported. It added that the bodies of 42 pilgrims remain unidentified.

No major incidents were reported on Monday, as pilgrims continued the stoning ritual.

Al-Sheik's comments came a few hours after the Saudi government said it would form an agency to redevelop Mecca and Medina, Islam's two holiest cities, to enable them to deal better with the crowds during the pilgrimage.

Saudi King Fahd said the agency would develop the holy sites "according to the current and future circumstances," the official Saudi Press Agency reported. Plans would be "comprehensive" and serve for "no less than 20 years."

Sunday's tragedy was the worst at the hajj since 1997, when 340 pilgrims died in a fire at the tent city of Mina, near Mecca.

The crowd got out of control as pilgrims moved along a wide ramp leading to the stoning -- where they throw pebbles at three stone pillars, symbolizing their contempt for the devil.
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