Confirmed: 54 Nigerian pilgrims died in Hajj stampede (PLUS: The states they came from)

Posted by News Express | 28 September 2015 | 4,822 times

The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has confirmed the death of 54 Nigerians in last Thursday’s deadly stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, during this year’s Hajj.

A Channels TV report quoted the Chairman of NAHCON, Mr. Abdullahi Mohammed, as saying today in Makkah that 42 out of the 54 that died were from states pilgrims welfare board including two NAHCON officials, while others were among those on the pilgrimage by private tour operators.

“Mohammed listed 15 states of Bauchi, Borno, Zamfara, Cross River, Jigawa, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Sokoto, Taraba and Yobe, as those that lost pilgrims to the stampede,” the repor said.

At least 769 died and 934 injured in the crush at Mina, around 5 kilometres east of Islam’s holy city of Mecca, as pilgrims returned from or headed to the ritual “stoning of the devil” at Jamarat.

Source: News Express