World IN BRIEF : TURKEY : Criticism Mounts Over Hajj Disaster
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From Times staff and Wire reports
Turkish political leaders led a growing outcry against Saudi Arabia over the death of an estimated 1,426 Muslim pilgrims trampled or suffocated in a tunnel in Mecca while on a pilgrimage, or hajj, to Islam’s holiest shrine. A Turkish survivor said escape routes from the tunnel were closed with wire and soldiers fled instead of aiding the 50,000 trapped and panic-stricken pilgrims. Turkey, with 550 dead and Indonesia with 122 bore the brunt of the loss. Malaysia, which lost 122 pilgrims, declared Monday a day of mourning.
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