Ali Bin Gharsan Okaz/Saudi Gazette MAKKAH – Security officers should be deployed next year at the train stations in the holy sites to control crowd movement and prevent any type of pushing and shoving accidents inside the stations, said Fahd Abo Tarboush, director general of Al-Mashair Train and executive director of pilgrims' transportation program in the holy sites. He added that all operational plans for Al-Mashair Train would be reassessed. Abo Tarboush dismissed reports that train tickets were sold on the black market to a large number of pilgrims, who caused the crowding at a train station in Arafat. “We sold over 530,000 tickets to Haj companies and Tawafa establishments. We don't sell tickets to individuals. These reports are sheer lies,” he said. Also, some Haj companies said they plan to sue the railway company for failing to transport 70,000 pilgrims holding tickets. Abo Tarboush insisted that the train did transport all pilgrims holding tickets and did not cancel any trips. He was surprised by this huge number and wondered where those pilgrims were when the train was transporting passengers. Moreover, he denied reports that claimed a technical failure caused the accident inside the station. The accident happened because local Haj companies sent over 50,000 pilgrims without tickets to the station. This huge number wasn't taken into consideration and disrupted train schedules and plans, he said. “Those pilgrims were sleeping on the ground inside the station. We had to transport 150,000 pilgrims who did not have tickets. The absence of security officers to prevent those pilgrims from crowding the grounds of the train station was the main reason for the accident.” A five-member committee set up to investigate the accident has yet to submit its report. However, some sources said several factors contributed to the crowding incident. First, one of the Tawafa establishments sent all its pilgrims at the same time and this disrupted the plans and schedules. Secondly, a large number of pilgrims refused to get on the train and waited at the station because they wanted to go to a different destination. Thirdly, several groups of pilgrims refused to get off, as they wanted to get down at a different station. Fourthly, many pilgrims slept on the grounds of the station blocking the movement of pilgrims to the train station. Fifthly, some pilgrims used emergency exits when they should not have. Finally, many pilgrims who did not have tickets insisted on riding the train and they tried to force open the train doors. This made the train to stop for safety reasons.
