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Indonesia criticises Saudi Arabia for hajj disaster response

by PH September 29, 2015, 12:24 pm

Rescue workers attend to victims of a stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia during the annual hajj pilgrimage. (File, AP)

Jakarta – Indonesian officials are criticising Saudi Arabia’s response to the hajj disaster in Mina, saying authorities in the kingdom prevented their diplomats from seeing initial data and blocked their immediate access to the dead.

The criticism from Indonesia, the Muslim world’s most populous country, comes as its officials, as well as those in India and Pakistan, say Saudi officials gave foreign diplomats some 1 100 pictures of those killed in last week’s disaster.

The Saudi Health Ministry’s latest figures, released on Saturday, put the toll at 769 people killed and 934 injured.

Saudi officials have yet to comment on the discrepancy in the toll.

Lalu Muhammad Iqbal, an official in Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry, said on Tuesday that 46 of its pilgrims died in the Mina crush, while 10 were injured and 90 remain missing.