Death toll of Indonesians in pilgrimage stampede rises to 91

A senior official at Indonesia's Ministry of Religious Affairs said here on Friday that the number of Indonesian pilgrims killed in the hajj stampede in Mina, Saudi Arabia last week has reached 91 as efforts to search the missing nationals related to the stampede are still underway at the moment.

Ministry spokesperson Rudi Urip said that the latest figure was provided by the Indonesian task force that manages domestic hajj pilgrims, the PPIH.

"The total Indonesian casualties consisted of 86 who departed from hajj embarkation points across the country and five Indonesian nationals working in Saudi Arabia," Rudi said in the ministry's premises here.

The fatality figure was a sharp rise from 59 recently announced by the PPIH, he added.

The PPIH has been coordinating with related offices under the supervision of the Indonesian foreign affairs ministry to search for other Indonesians that had possibly fallen in the stampede.

Indonesia sent more than 168,000 hajj pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year.

Saudi authorities put the total number of pilgrims killed in Mina at 769.