Mecca stampede kills +700

[Valley Oak]

Mecca Stampede Kills Over 700
September 25, 2015 BY Aaron Wysocki



Right now the Hajj pilgrimage is happening in Mecca, drawing millions to the same location at the same time. A tragic stampede has killed over 700 people. Cenk Uygur, host of the The Young Turks, breaks it down. Tell us what you think in the comment section below.

“At least 717 people have been killed in a stampede at the annual Hajj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence directorate said, as the death toll continued to rise.

The directorate said at least 863 other pilgrims were injured in Thursday’s stampede, which took place in Mina, on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca.

The injured have been evacuated to four different hospitals in the Mina region, according to a civil defence spokesman.

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Prince Mohamed bin Nayef, ordered a probe into how the tragedy had occurred.”*

Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/09…

[Shandi]

Religious fervor blinds rational thought. At least they died in service to their souls, rather than being killed and injured in a stampede to buy the latest tech gadget, which has happened in the US, and could very well happen again on Black Thursday.

[Valley Oak]

So you're saying that it is better to die in a human stampede while exercising your religious ritual than to die in a human stampede while shopping???

Religious fervor blinds rational thought. At least they died in service to their souls, rather than being killed and injured in a stampede to buy the latest tech gadget, which has happened in the US, and could very well happen again on Black Thursday.

[Shandi]

I actually didn't say it was "better", but maybe for them it was a kind of religious sacrifice, though unintended.
Those people who stampede to get the latest tech gadgets or toys, and are maimed or killed are acting in a hypnotic programmed trance, not unlike religious fervor. Just how I see it. Anyone else?

So you're saying that it is better to die in a human stampede while exercising your religious ritual than to die in a human stampede while shopping???

[bill shearer]

Over three million take part in Haj, with more than ten million visiting at other times of the year. Pilgrims are coming from around the world and not all of them are terribly sophisticated when it comes to moving in mass. This is simply the largest event in the world in terms of crowd density. There are no "best practices" guides for the engineers or for the security and medical personnel. They do the best they can and try to learn from experience.