Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 3, 1990                   TAG: 9007030303
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA                                LENGTH: Medium

PILGRIMS ON WAY TO MECCA KILLED IN STAMPEDE

They said the stampede began when some pilgrims stopped in the middle of the air-conditioned tunnel and people outside tried to rush in to escape the 112-degree heat. They also said the ventilation appeared to have stopped.

One diplomat who refused to be identified put the total death toll at 1,400 and said most of the victims were Malaysian and Indonesian pilgrims.

Other Middle Eastern and Asian diplomats and witnesses gave the same death toll. The Saudi Interior Ministry said only that a number of people died or fainted.

The stampede shattered what had been a peaceful observance of the annual Hajj, or pilgrimage, and was the worst pilgrimage tragedy in recent years. In previous years, terrorist attacks and riots marred the celebration.

It came at the end of the Moslem holiday Eid Al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, for which 2 million Moslems, including 800,000 foreigners, came to the holy city of Mecca.

Ambulances and security forces rushed to the exits of the 500-yard-long tunnel that joins Mecca and the tent city of Mina, according to state-run Riyadh radio, which quoted an Interior Ministry spokeman in Mina.

Witnesses said people stampeded, crushing hundreds of people and suffocating hundreds of others.

People were smothered "as thousands of the pilgrims thronged through the tunnel of Mo'essem, causing severe congestion within the tunnel as the pressure was beyond its capacity," the radio said. "This led to some deaths and some cases of fainting."

A witness, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the flow of people through the tunnel suddenly stopped. The tunnel can hold up to 1,000 pedestrians, but the crowd inside quickly swelled to 5,000, he said.

"With the lack of oxygen, a good number collapsed unconscious, and some died. There was also a stampede," the witness said.

"There always should be movement within the tunnel, but the entire crowd suddenly stopped, and no one yet knows why," he said.

The tunnel is part of a massive $15 billion development plan for the holy sites to move pilgrims in a more orderly fashion for the Hajj, the world's largest religious gathering. The plan includes other tunnels and overhead bridges.