Shams Ahsan and Mishal Al-Otaibi Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — Three days after the tragedy at the Grand Mosque in Makkah, the scene has shifted to the mortuary in Moaissem near Mina where the bodies of the crane accident victims have been kept. Many of the dead have been identified thanks to the metallic band they wore which carries identification details. But death certificates, which would allow funeral rites to be carried out, have not yet been issued much to the exasperation of the victims' relatives and friends. “It has been three days since my wife died in the crane accident, but I have not yet even had a chance to get one last glimpse of her,” said a distraught Syed Imtiaz Ahmed, the husband of Moniza Ahmed, of West Bengal in India. A desperate Imtiaz had been doing the rounds of the three hospitals where the injured were taken. Seeing his psychological state, the Indian consulate appointed a doctor to look after him. Indian Consul General B.S. Mubarak said that he talked to Imtiaz and sent a member of the consulate staff to be by his side until the funeral formalities of his wife are completed. There are procedures involved, and formalities have to be completed before death certificates are issued and bodies are released for funeral, according to Saudi official sources. Meanwhile, the authorities have asked the Saudi Binladen Group to remove a crane from the Grand Mosque site after it was found to have been damaged by high winds last Friday, according to Civil Defense sources. According to the latest statistics, 111 people were killed and 331 injured in the accident at the Grand Mosque. The emergency ward of Ajyad hospital received, treated and discharged 156 injured pilgrims and Al-Noor Specialist Hospital received 108 of those injured in the accident. Some 23 injured pilgrims are still under treatment in the hospital. At least 87 injured pilgrims are being treated at King Faisal Hospital in Makkah while 14 are at King Abdul Aziz Hospital. Director of the Makkah Department of Health Affairs Dr. Mustapha Baljoon toured all the hospitals where the injured are being treated and visited the Moaissem mortuary. He said some of the critical cases which required surgical intervention have been airlifted to specialist hospitals in Jeddah and Taif. According to the department, the victims are mostly from 12 countries: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Turkey, Malaysia, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iran, Algeria, Somalia, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Indian consulate on Sunday released a list of nine pilgrims who died in the Grand Mosque accident. This is in addition to the two deaths announced earlier by the consulate. The Pakistan Haj Mission also announced the death of six pilgrims.
