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A deadly stampede which occurred on Thursday, September 24, 2015, during the observation of Hajj in Saudi Arabia has led to the deaths of 717 people, including Nigerian pilgrims.
Northern Nigeria’s first female editor, Bilkisu Yusuf, the Chairman of the Borno State Pilgrims Board, Professor Tijjani El-Miskin and a member of the Nigerian medical team, Dr Hafsat Shittu are among the victims of the tragedy.
The stampede is said to have occurred as two million pilgrims performed the “stoning of Satan” rite in Mina.
“Many Nigerians are involved, I mean those killed and injured. The Chairman of the Borno State Pilgrims Board, Professor Tijjani Almiskin, a prominent Nigerian female journalist, Bilkisu Yusuf, and a member of the Nigerian medical team, Dr. Hafsat Shittu, were among many Nigerians killed in the Mina stampede,” a journalist with Voice of America (VOA), Nasir Adamu el-Hikaya told ThisDay.
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“As I speak to you (7.30 local time), officials of the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria and health workers are still gathering the figures and we are waiting for the chairman of the commission to brief us,” he added.
This is the second tragedy to occur during the 2015 Hajj as on September 11, a crane fell onto the Masjid al-Haram, the Grand Mosque in Mecca leaving 118 people dead.
6 Nigerians died in the incident and have since been buried according to Islamic rites.
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