A survivor of the stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, has
narrated how he survived the incident.
Dahiru Shittu, one of the over 60,000 Nigerians attending
this year’s pilgrimage, was among the thousands of people
gathered in Mina for the devil stoning rite, part of the hajj
activities, when the stampede occurred.
‘”We were trapped in between narrow lane with iron wall
of tents on both sides of the road,” he told PREMIUM
TIMES in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. “There was no way
out, so people started scaling fences into tents of Algeria
and other Arab countries.”
Mr. Shittu, from Igabi Local Government Area of
Kaduna State, added that “My friend and I, who were
completely exhausted from the previous long distance
trekking from Arafat to Muztalifa where we spent the night
and set out that morning to Jamra, had no option than to
step on other weaker pilgrims to survive.
“You will see mother and parents leaving their children and
aged to survive. I was however, helped by an Arab man
to scale the fence into a tent.
“Many male and female pilgrims dead or alive were seen
Unclad. We that survived, had to scavenge for Ihram
(white cloth) of corpses to cover our unclothedness. Those of
us who were alive were gasping for survival in an
exhausted struggle, some of whom were later offered ice
block by some volunteers.”
“An Ethiopian pilgrim abandoned his mother who became a
‘ladder’ for those who scaled through fences to survive.
Many others too, were crushed to death in such a manner.”
The pilgrim lamented the security situation during the rite
saying there was not enough “security around or any rescue
team.”
There have been reports that the closure of two essential
gate, reportedly at the instance of the Saudi Royal family
who were receiving some visitors, was a major cause of
the stampede, a fact Mr. Shittu elaborates.
“If the gates of those tents from both sides of the road had
opened, the death toll would have been very minimal,” he
said. “But the Arabs closed the gates and continued to hit
the hands of any pilgrim with a metal as they attempted to
scale their fences to get free air.”
The survivor, who suffered an injury on his leg, lamented
the inadequate medical attention received by some survivors
saying, “I did not receive any medical attention from either
the Saudi, NAHCON (Nigerian officials) or Kaduna
authority despite my complaints to them.”
He said he saw corpses of many Nigerians from Lagos and
Sokoto whom he identified from their uniform.
“There was a woman who was carrying a baby and I am
not sure if she will survive because there were so many
bodies piled on top of her and the baby.”
No official figure has been announced by Nigerian
authorities of the number of casualties from the country.
However, Sokoto State has confirmed that at least nine of
its pilgrims were killed in the stampede while Taraba has
confirmed three. Saudi officials said at least 769 people
were killed in the stampede while over 900 people were
injured.
Lamenting his present state, Mr. Shittu said he “was
completely traumatized; in fact if there is anything beyond
being traumatized, that was how I felt because I thought it
was the end of the world.
“But that did not discourage me from wanting to come back
for Hajj again because this is part of the test of faith.”
