The annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina , known as the Haj, has been plagued by many disasters in recent years.
Thousands of people, most of them pilgrims involved in one of the world’s greatest religious rituals, have died in tragedies linked to Islam’s holiest shrines.
Some of these were the result of political and religious disputes.
The worst disasters were:
---2006- Stampede at Jamarat kills over 360 people and injures over 289.
---2006 - Collapse of Makkah hostel housing pilgrims kills 76.
—Feb. 1, 2004: 244 pilgrims killed and a similar number injured, some critically, in a stampede during the devil-stoning ritual.
—March 5, 2001: 35 killed in stampede during stoning of the devil ritual in Mina.
—April 9, 1998: About 180 pilgrims were trampled to death when panic erupted after several fell off an overpass during the stoning of the devil ritual in Mina.
