Saudi Arabian Hajj stampede death toll climbs to 769

The death toll from Thursday’s stampede during the annual haj pilgrimage outside Mecca has climbed to 769, Saudi Arabia’s health minister has said.

Khalid al-Falih also said the number of people injured during the crush had risen to 934. Earlier, Saudi’ Arabi’s most senior Islamic cleric, the Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul bin-Abdullah al-Sheikh, said the death of the pilgrims was beyond human control and that the “fate and destiny are inevitable.”

“The latest statistics up to this hour reveal 769 dead. That is an increase of 52 on the previous figures,” Saudi health minister Khalid al-Falih told a news conference.

“Those are the ones who died in various hospitals since the event,” he said, adding that 934 people were wounded.

Shi'ite Muslim Iran, which is locked in a series of proxy wars in Arab countries around the Sunni Muslim kingdom, says that at least 136 Iranians are among the dead, sparking protests and outrage in the Islamic Republic on Friday.

Over 300 other Iranians remain unaccounted for, including former ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi, Fars news agency reported.

Following the worst disaster to befall the Islamic event in 25 years, Iran said  Saudi officials should be tried in an international court for what it called a crime.

“We will urge international courts and circles to start the trial of the Saudis for their crimes against haj pilgrims,” Iran's Prosecutor General Ebrahim Raisi was quoted as saying by student news agency ISNA on Saturday

“This is not incompetence, it's a crime,” Raisi told state broadcaster IRIB.

At the U. N. General Assembly, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani used his address to the summit to demand an investigation into the crush.

Protecting the visitors to mosques at the holy cities of Mecca and Medina is a key pillar of legitimacy for the Saudi royal family, and the king has the title of "custodian of the two holy mosques."

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, top Saudi cleric Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh ordered an investigation into Thursday's stampede but said he did not hold authorities responsible for the disaster

“You are not responsible for what happened. You dealt with the beneficial factors that were in your hands and within your ability. As for the things that humans cannot control, you cannot blamed for them. Fate and destiny are inevitable,” Al al-Sheikh, known as the Grand Mufti, said in a televised statement.