The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has said the number of Nigerians who died in the Jamarat Stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia, has risen to 199 with 36 injured and 121 still missing.
The commissioner, Planning, Research and Library Service of the commission, Dr. Saleh Okenwa, said last night in Makkah that Sokoto State lost 79 pilgrims and has 59 missing while Kano State lost 20 pilgrims at the top of the list of causalities.
The commissioner also said that five Nigerians remain on admission at the hospitals while others had been discharged.
He listed other states affected by the tragedy as Adamawa, Borno, FCT, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Katsina, Kebbi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Plateau, Rivers, Taraba, Yobe and Zamfara who either lost pilgrims or have their pilgrims declared missing.
The number of dead continues to rise after some of those earlier declared missing were identified among the corpses in the hospitals and the figure is expected to rise when those declared missing may have been identified.
“The numbers of dead from the state pilgrims were 160 comprising 70 males, 84 females, four male officials and two female officials. Thirty-three – 18 males and 15 females – were injured, while 110 were still missing, comprising 61 males, 48 females and one male official.
“The tour operators recorded 39 deaths with 25 males and 14 females, two were injured among the five on admission, while 11 comprising eight males and three females were still missing,” he said.
The Commissioner of Operations, Alhaji Ibrahim Modibbo Saleh, said 56,987 pilgrims had been airlifted home in 21 days with 148 flights, adding that Nigeria was ahead of the October 27 deadline set for scheduled return flight of pilgrims back home.
The airlifted represent 86.1 percent of all Pilgrims. Three flights were scheduled to take Nigerians back home with about 1,500 pilgrims, he added, with the number remaining to be airlifted at about 6,500.
-Leadership