A British Hajj tour operator advisor claimed on Friday a stampede that killed hundreds outside Mecca was caused by the Saudi king’s decision to close already overcrowded roads.
Mohammed Jafari, an adviser to a British Hajj tour operator, said the deaths of 717 people were “the fault of the Saudi government” because “every time a Prince comes along” they closed the roads and fail to consider “the disaster waiting to happen.”
The Hajj stampede, believed to have originated at a crossroads between Streets 202 and 223 in the Mecca neighbourhood of Mina, is the deadliest in 25 years.
“Talking to pilgrims on the ground yesterday, the main reason for this accident was that the king, in his palace in Mina, was receiving dignitaries and for this reason they closed two entrances to where the stoning happened ... these were the two roads where people were not able to proceed,” Mr Jafari, an adviser to Haj and Umrah Travel, the UK’s first Hajj tour operator, told the BBC’s Today Programme.
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He added: “It is the fault of the Saudi government because any time a prince comes along, they close the roads, they don’t think about the disaster waiting to happen.”
Similar allegations were first reported in Arabic news agencies, who claimed to have spoken to sources present at the stampede, on Thursday.
Arabic newspaper al-Diyar claimed deputy crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman Al Saud's convoy had exacerbated overcrowding after busy thoroughfares were shut to allow his security detail through en route to the prince's meeting with his father.
The report claimed one-traffic was reversed to allow the prince’s 350-odd security staff through, panicking the crowd and ultimately leading to the stampede.
Saudi Arabia denied the report, claiming it was “incorrect”.
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King Salman has ordered an urgent safety review into the tragedy, admitting there was a need “to improve” organisation around the Islamic pilgrimage, attending by millions annually.
The reviews comes as two of Saudi Arabia’s fiercest critics, Iran and Indonesia, continue to exert pressure over the Kingdom’s handling of events.
