AhlulBayt News Agency

source : IRNA
Thursday

15 October 2015

6:32:41 AM
715187

Official: Bodies of 29 missing Iranian pilgrims buried in Saudi Arabia

Bodies of 29 Iranian pilgrims who were killed in the Mina tragedy have been buried in Saudi Arabia.

According to the reports obtained from the Saudi informatics systems, the Iranian pilgrims have been fingerprinted and a part of their nails have been collected for DNA tests before burring them.

Ohadi stressed that the places where the Iranian victims have been buried were identified.

He added that Iran will continue its search for the remaining 36 missing Iranian pilgrims in Saudi Arabia after the tragic stampede during the Hajj rituals.

The Hajj disaster occurred on September 24 after two large masses of pilgrims converged at a crossroads in Mina during the symbolic ceremony of the Stoning of Satan in Jamarat.

Saudi Arabia claims nearly 770 people were killed in the fatal incident, but according to officials at Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization about 4,700 people, including 464 Iranian pilgrims, lost their lives in the trageic event. However, foreign officials put the death toll at 1,674.

The bodies of 399 Iranian victims have been repatriated so far.

Saudi Arabia has come under harsh criticism over its role in and handling of the fatal incident.

/149