Date: Fri, 25 Apr 97 21:28:03 CDTM I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S - WWW.MiddleEast.Org
The fire consumed some 70,000 tents in Mina, near Makkah on Tuesday 15 April 1997. Our insider sources confirmed that over 4,000 pilgrims were killed by the fire!! This gruesome count is as of Thursday 17 April 1997, evening, and steadily increasing. There is little hope for those with sever burns, as the country lacks adequate facilities for any significant number of burn victims. We expect the death toll to exceed the 6,000 mark, making this one of the biggest catastrophes in Hajj history. Eyewitnesses said that the dead were mostly Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. The fire had also engulfed camps of some Syrian, Lebanese, Egyptian, Sudanese, Yemeni, Moroccan and Saudi nationals.
The fire sparked before midday and extinguished after about seven hours, when every thing was already consumed and nothing left to feed it. There was chaos everywhere. Panic spread through the camps as fast as the blaze. During and after the fire the emergency services failed to provide timely or proper treatment. The priority of the unaccountable, corrupt and inept Saudi officials before, during and after Hajj, from King Fahd down, is almost always directed towards the royals and their guests and lackeys, political security or survival.
Fahd's lackey and ambassador in London, Ghazi Algosaibi, said in a statement: (Investigations indicate that the fire was an accident)!! We are not aware about any investigation, short of "miracles" or "black magic", which could turn such a result so quickly! He further day dreamed: (We are faced with a human tragedy, which has no political implications).
The Aal Saud dictators, the self-preserving "custodians" of Islam's two holiest shrines, and their mouth pieces, claim the country has spent US $19 billion on expanding and upgrading Hajj facilities to ensure the comfort and safety of the pilgrims. But they failed to disclose, how much of this was spent on commissions; and how much on palaces, royal hospitality and secret services of the regime; And how stupid and without vision the meagre rest was mis-managed!
The fatal blaze is not the first tragedy to strike Muslims on pilgrimage to Makkah under the "blessed" Aal Saud rule. In 1975 there was a comparable fire, which killed thousands. The real death toll was never disclosed. The regime gunned down over four hundred unarmed Iranian pilgrims in 1987 and denied the whole incident. Over 5,000 pilgrims were crushed to death in Al-Mu'aisim tunnel in 1990, but the regime admitted a death toll of only 1420 innocent souls and had the audacity to blame "Fate, Destiny and Divine Predetermination". The results of the investigation indicating a possible involvement of the Kuwaiti royal family was covered up. The most recent tragedy is the stampede at the "stoning" site, in 1994, caused by a princess, which insisted in using her car in the crowd! As a result of that criminal behaviour several thousand lost their lives, from whom only 271 were admitted by the regime!
Aal Saud are not only inept and lacking of any vision, they have betrayed the trust and mis-managed the holy shrines!
It is about time for Aal Saud to retire, peacefully or otherwise!!
M I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S
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