The total number of Iranian dead in last month’s hajj stampede has risen to 428 with 36 people still missing, including the former ambassador to Lebanon, Ghazanfar Roknabadi.
Globally, the latest tabulation of the dead compiled by The Associated Press from national announcements now comes to 2,140 from 30 different countries.
Saudi Arabia, however, has not yet updated its death toll of 769, which was issued two days after the September 24 stampede. The Saudis have become very uncommunicative with the media, though they have become more cooperative with foreign governments, which have now ceased charging that the Saudis are balking at their requests.
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi on Monday gave a speech in which he said 7,000 people had died in the stampede. He didn’t say where he got that number. The Iran Times has not seen it used anywhere else. For the last two weeks, the Iranian media have generally been asserting that 4,000 people died, ignoring the announcements of the governments of Islamic states.
Saudi Arabia said Monday that its investigation into the causes of the tragedy continues. But it gave no hint how close the investigators are to reaching a conclusion.
Iran has by far the largest number of victims of the crush, almost double the number of victims from any other country. As of Monday, the AP tabulation showed the following death figures by country: Iran 428, Mali 254, Nigeria 199, Egypt 182, Bangladesh 137, Indonesia 126, India 116, Pakistan 102, Cameroon 76, Niger 72, Senegal 61, Ivory Coast 52, Benin 52, Ethiopia 47, Chad 43, Morocco 36, Algeria 33, Sudan 30, Burkina Faso 22, Tanzania 20, Somalia 10, Kenya 8, Ghana 7, Turkey 7, Myanmar 6, Libya 6, China 4, Afghanistan 2, Jordan 1 and Malaysia 1.
