At least 320 of the dead are from Egypt and Saudi officials report treating more than 2,000 people for heat stress
    • crudenipster@lemm.ee
      1·
      3 months ago

      Kind of yes. Since Hajj brings 2-3 million people together, it was a minor crowd crush.

      The major crowd crushes have resulted in deaths in double or even triple digits (in 2015).

      Saudi Government has largely streamlined the movement of pilgrims, so I don’t know where this crowd crush happened.

      That said, I totally blame the government for inadequate response to the heat wave. While the article shares that the authorities distributed water and ice cream, it didn’t help much in peak times. When I (a pilgrim) was returning on Jun 17, the crowd was barely moving and I could not reach the water at all since it was on the right end of the road, and I was on left, from where it’s borderline impossible to move to the right without putting your life at risk.

      Plus, I don’t know who got the ice creams as I didn’t see any.

    • HomerianSymphony@lemmy.world
      0·
      3 months ago

      550 people just died and your only response is to mock their religion.

      What kind of person are you? Have you no decency?

      If this had been an outdoor rock concert, would you start mocking their taste in music?

      • Cyborganism@lemmy.ca
        1·
        3 months ago

        People at a rock concert wouldn’t feel obliged to stay and would be able to leave without guilt or fear.

        I don’t understand why they didn’t have anything set up to accommodate the Pilgrims to cool them off or maybe restrict access to a limited number of people to allow them to be spaced out enough to have some breathing room.

        I know if a tragic event, but god damn religion is stupid. All religions. Even those that encourage monks to starve themselves or suffer for enlightenment. As an atheist this all makes no fucking sense.