Mohammad Dawood and Ashwaq Al-Tuwairqi Okaz/Saudi Gazette
JEDDAH — Twenty pilgrims who were injured in the Mina stampede were released after treatment on Friday, announced the CEO of King Abdullah Medical Complex, Saeed Al-Ghamdi. He said the Ministry of Health has been very active in serving the pilgrims and ensuring their health and wellbeing. “The medical complex received a total of 46 injured pilgrims from Makkah. Some 20 pilgrims have been discharged after treatment. The remaining are in the intensive care unit,” said Al-Ghamdi. He added that the complex has provided clothes and food to the patients and their attendants. “We even provided accommodation in the complex to some of the family members of the injured pilgrims so they can stay near their relatives,” said Al-Ghamdi. Meanwhile, the National Society for Human Rights has assigned a team to supervise the procedure for burying the deceased victims of the stampede. Al-Moaissem Emergency Complex Director Col. Ali Al-Hadi said the complex is responsible for identifying all the deceased victims, washing their bodies, wrapping them the Islamic way and burying them. “The cemeteries have over 10,000 graves, of which 300 are vacant for our use,” said Al-Hadi. “The number of deceased pilgrims this year was one of the highest in decades. We are trying our best to accommodate the number of the dead pilgrims,” said Al-Hadi. Meanwhile, scholars and imams of mosques in Pakistan rejected the move by some parties to politicize the Mina stampede incident. They commended in Friday sermons, at mosques in Pakistan, the government of the Kingdom for ensuring the comfort and safety of pilgrims as well as its attention to the Two Holy Mosques. Meanwhile, some 159,399 pilgrims had reached Madinah till Thursday after completing their Haj rituals, according to the data released by the National Foundation for Guides in Madinah region.
