Iran holds events to honor victims of hajj
Print Edition
Ceremonies took place across Iran yesterday to honor people killed in a crush at the hajj, as a second plane returned the bodies of 114 pilgrims from Saudi Arabia.
The latest repatriation of corpses from the September 24 tragedy came after 104 bodies were brought home on Saturday, leaving 246 of the country’s 464 declared victims yet to be returned.
Iran has the highest death toll among the countries affected by the event. Egypt was second-worst hit with 138 dead and 96 still missing.
Thousands attended a procession for the victims in central Tehran with similar events taking place in other capitals.
Iran’s hajj organization chief Said Ohadi said on Saturday that 205 more bodies have been found, state TV reported.
“Bodies that are clearly Iranian will be repatriated and identified in Iran,” he said.
Health Minister Hassan Hashemi said earlier that not all of the Iranian dead had been found and many were thought to be lying unidentified in sealed containers.
Officials are trying to “repatriate more than 100 other bodies,” said Hossein Ali Amir, an interior ministry spokesman.
Iran has accused Saudi Arabia of incompetence in its handling of safety at the hajj, souring relations already strained by the civil war in Syria.
Tehran has been critical of the pace at which the Saudi authorities have identified the dead.
The kingdom says 769 pilgrims died in the tragedy, but foreign officials and media put the figure at more than 1,000.
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