Riyadh says its ready for any emergency during Hajj

MECCA: Saudi health officials overseeing the Hajj pilgrimage later this week say they are prepared to handle any outbreak of disease or a stampede like the one that killed hundreds of worshippers two years ago.

Saudi Arabia said on Monday that more than 1.735 million pilgrims had arrived from abroad for the ritual, a once-in-a-lifetime religious duty for every able-bodied Muslim who could afford the journey.

The world’s largest annual gathering of Muslims has in the past seen numerous deadly stampedes, fires and riots, with authorities having only limited ability to control the masses.

Saudi Arabia stakes its reputation on its guardianship of Islam’s holiest sites – Mecca and Medina – and organising Hajj, a role that Iranian authorities have challenged as part of a dispute over the handling of a crush in 2015.

That incident killed nearly 800 pilgrims, according to Riyadh, although counts by countries of repatriated bodies showed that more than 2 000 people may have died, more than 400 of them Iranians.

Hussein Ghanam, who oversees the health ministry’s Hajj operations, said the authorities were prepared in case of another stampede.

“There is an integrated fleet of ambulances, each of which is considered its own fully equipped intensive-care unit. The ambulances circulate on the roads between the tents,” he said. About 30000 health workers will be on hand, and 5000 hospital beds are available. Reuters