How I survived Mecca stampede catastrophe
Mr Bashiru Ngete is welcomed home by relatives at Julius Nyerere International Airport yesterday upon his arrival from Mecca.
PHOTO | OMAR FUNGO
What you need to know:
Emotional scenes at JNIA as Tanzanians arrive from pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia
Tanzanian pilgrim says he lived to tell the tale after walking on piles of dead bodies during the crush that killed nearly 800 people in the holy city last week.
Dar es Salaam. Mr Bashiru Ali Ngete arrived home in Dar es Salaam yesterday, having survived last week’s deadly stampede in Mecca by a whisker.
He narrated to The Citizen a chilling tale of how he survived the tragedy in which nearly 800 people of various nationalities died.
“It feels like a dream that I’m back home safely. Praise be to Allah,” said Mr Ngete, shortly after landing at Julius Nyerere International Airport along with 111 other Tanzanian pilgrims.
He said he was performing the symbolic stoning of the devil when all hell broke loose.
“I saw hundreds of people falling down, and immediately realised that something was terribly wrong.”
Mr Ngete said he survived by walking on piles of dead bodies, otherwise he too would have been trampled underfoot.
“There was pandemonium. I was being pushed from behind, but somehow managed to maintain my balance and stay on my feet. If I had stopped or avoided bodies that were piled on the ground, I too would have been knocked down and trampled on,” he said.
Struggling to retain his composure, Mr Ngete said such was the scale of the tragedy that there were “mountains” of bodies at some places.
“There were countless bodies. It was heartbreaking. I panicked and lost hope of making it out alive. However, I knew that I was not supposed to stop. I eventually made my way through piles of dead bodies to safety.”
There were emotional scenes at JNIA as relatives and friends welcomed the pilgrims home. Many had tears in their eyes and prayed following their safe return from pilgrimage.
Mr Ngete was met by a group of relatives, who were overcome with joy and rushed to hug him the moment he stepped out of the arrivals lounge.
After what happened last Thursday, it was obvious that Mr Ngete’s relatives wanted to see and touch him to believe that he survived the tragedy.
Another Tanzanian pilgrim, Sheikh Idd Kimoro, who was near the scene of the stampede, said he first heard people screaming and saw scores of pilgrims falling to the ground. “It was by God’s grace that I happened to be a short distance from where the stampede occurred. There was no place to run to for those who had been caught in the crush. There were multitudes and it was very hot. I saw people dying with my very own eyes,” he told The Citizen.
Mr Jabir Mtulia, who was among pilgrims who arrived home yesterday, said all hajjis were given IDs, but there was a likelihood that many of the victims lost the tags during the commotion.
“Every pilgrim is given an armband and a neck tag that has their full details, including nationality. I fear that many of those who died in the stampede lost the IDs, and that is why they have yet to be identified.”
He said he was far from where the stamped happened and only learnt of the tragedy later. “At first I thought it was just a minor incident. I went on with other rituals, but when I got back to my hotel I found several missed calls from my wife (in Tanzania) and when I finally answered her call, she told me that they had heard that more than 700 people had died.”
Five Tanzanian pilgrims were among 778 people who died in the stampede.
They have been identified as Ms Mwanaisha Juma, Ms Khadija Shekali Mohammed, Mr Mkungwe Hemed, Mr Sefu Kitimla and Mr Shafi Khamis Ali.
About 50 Tanzanian pilgrims were still unaccounted for yesterday, raising fears that the death toll could increase. Yesterday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation released the names of 18 of those who were still missing.
They are Abdul Iddi Hussein, Awadh Saleh Magram, Burhani Nzori Matata, Yusuf Ismail Yusuf, Saleh Mussa Said, Adam Abdul Adam, Archelaus Antory Rutayulungwa, Farida Khatun Abdulghani and Rashida Adam Abdul.
The list also includes Hamida Ilyas Ibrahim, Rehema Ausi Rubaga, Faiza Ahmed Omar, Khadija Abdulkhalik Said, Shabinabanu Ismail DinMohamed, Salama Rajabu Mwamba, Johari Mkesafiri Mwijage, Alwiya Sharrif Salehe Abdallah and Hafsa Sharrif Saleh Abdallah.
The ministry said in a statement that Saudi authorities had released photographs of dead pilgrims whose bodies were still in mortuaries.
“Officials from our embassy, representatives of all hajj travel agencies, and the Tanzania Hajj Mission are studying the photos to see if they match with the missing people,” the statement said.
Saudi authorities have also taken fingerprints from the bodies and were matching them with those taken at airports and other entry points used by pilgrims. “We will be in a better position to know what happened to the missing pilgrims once the matching of fingerprints is completed,” the ministry said.
More than 950 people were injured in the stampede, while over 1,000 from nearly 40 nations have yet to be accounted for. There has been a history of crowd tragedies during the hajj, the deadliest being recorded in 1990 when 1,426 people died in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel leading to Mecca’s holy sites.
