By Ashley Bowmaster
More than 700 religious participants were killed during Thursday’s annual Hajj pilgrimage. This annual pilgrimage is an event that many say every Muslim should take at least once in their lifetime. This being said, each year this holy experience takes the lives of its practitioners.
Participants in the pilgrimage found themselves trapped in a stampede made of their fellow pilgrims. Though the exact cause of the stampede itself is unknown human stampedes are not an uncommon occurrence.
A study in 2010, led by Edbert Hsu of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, found that between 1980 and 2007 215 documented human stampedes took place worldwide. These stampedes lead to more than 7,000 deaths and 14,000 injuries. An Indian newspaper further elaborates that 79 percent of India’s recorded human stampedes took place during religious events. Even with these statistics it is hard to predict when a stampede may occur.
Survivors of the stampede claim that the event started when one wave of pilgrims started walking into another and as people started running into each other and falling, people started to panic causing the stampede. Some officials blame Saudi Arabia for not having stricter policies on the safety and organization of their holy pilgrimages and demand an official apology. Others believe that having crowds in the millions alone will cause these kinds of disaster to occur; whether is be a collapsing infrastructure due to excessive use, a viral outbreak due to poor health conditions and close quarters, or a stampede like what occurred on Thurday.
Without further evidence officials and survivors alike can only speculate the cause of this horrific event. Only time will tell if the true cause of the stampede will come to light.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34345342
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/09/hajj-stampede-crowd-disasters/407542