EID CELEBRATIONS IS MARRED WITH THE DEATH OF MORE THAN 700 PEOPLE

Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, the most important holiday on the Islamic calendar has been marred with death. A huge stampede killed at least 717 people and injured hundreds more at the hajj in Saudi Arabia on Thursday. It is one of the worst-ever tragedies that has ever occured at the annual Muslim pilgrimage.

It is also the second accident to hit the pilgrims this month alone, following a crane collapse in Mecca that broke out during the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual, said the Saudi civil defence service.

The scene was a trajic one, bodies lay scattered by the crush surrounded by discarded shoes.

Nearly two million people from across the globe were attending the hajj, one of the largest annual gatherings in the world. The civil defence service said that it was still counting the dead, who included pilgrims from different countries, and that at least 863 people had also been hurt.

Iran said at least 43 of its citizens were dead and accused Saudi Arabia of safety errors that caused the accident.

"Many pilgrims move without respecting the timetables" set for the hajj, Health Minister Khaled al-Falih told El-Ekhbariya television.

"If the pilgrims had followed instructions, this type of accident could have been avoided," he said, vowing a "rapid and transparent" investigation.

A hospital official told AFP the incident happened outside the Jamarat Bridge structure, where the stoning takes place. A group of pilgrims leaving the area collided with another group that was either moving in the opposite direction or camped outside, the official said.

A Sudanese pilgrim in Mina said this year's hajj was the most poorly organised of four he had attended.

"People were already dehydrated and fainting" before the stampede, said the pilgrim who declined to be named.

People "were tripping all over each other", he said, adding that a Saudi companion had warned him that "something was going to happen".

"This caused this tragic incident," the head of Iran's hajj organisation, Said Ohadi, told Iranian state television.

"Today's incident shows mismanagement and lack of serious attention to the safety of pilgrims. There is no other explanation. The Saudi officials should be held accountable," he said.