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Disaster Transbian episode 45
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00:00They were Muslim faithful from around the world, crushed to death just outside Islam's holiest city of Mecca.
00:14One man saying people were climbing over one another just to breathe.
00:18This comes less than two weeks after another disaster, a crane collapse that left over 100 dead.
00:24Almost a month after what is said to be the deadliest hajj stampede in history,
00:29the Associated Press reports the death toll has passed 2,000.
00:34Figures released by 34 foreign governments affected by the tragedy seem to back up the tally,
00:39although Saudi Arabia, where the incident took place, has not updated its official toll since late September.
00:45Mali is thought to have lost at least 198 pilgrims.
00:49Volunteers have set up a crisis centre to help locate those still missing.
00:53This volunteer says parents come to post photos of those who are missing,
00:57and volunteers from Mecca have gone to the hospitals to compare photos of those wounded.
01:02The Hajj Religious Festival is the world's largest annual gathering of people.
01:07This year, some two million Muslims set out on the pilgrimage to Mecca.
01:11This man's mother is among the hundreds missing.
01:13As of today, he says, we've still not had any information.
01:16It will soon be one month and we've still not mourned, if in fact there's any need to do so.
01:21This woman is hoping for news of her grandfather.
01:25Having no news of your father, mother, son or daughter for a month,
01:29not knowing who to talk to and having no reference point,
01:32it's just unbearable, she says.
01:34It's horrific.
01:36There have been regular accidents on the pilgrimage,
01:39despite the Saudi authorities spending billions to improve infrastructure.
01:43According to a statement by the Saudi Civil Defense Directorate,
01:51the crash occurred Thursday, September 24, 2015,
01:55at 9 o'clock Mecca time, 6 o'clock UTC,
01:59at the junction between Street 204 and 223,
02:03as pilgrims were en route to the Jamrat Bridge.
02:07The Saudi Interior Ministry stated that the crash began
02:11when two large groups of pilgrims intersected from different directions onto the same street.
02:19The area was not identified previously as dangerous.
02:24The junction lay between two pilgrim campsites.
02:28The International Business Times reported that
02:30the governor of Mecca province and Saudi Arabia's director of the main Hajj committee
02:36Prince Khalid bin Faisal al-Saud blamed the crash outside the holy city on
02:42quote,
02:43some pilgrims with African nationalities, unquote,
02:47prompting condemnation from several African government officials.
02:52In a press conference held the day of the disaster,
02:55spokesman of the Ministry of Interior Mansour al-Turkey
02:59attempted to address the disaster.
03:02He said that an investigation was ongoing,
03:04that the exact causes for crowding
03:07that resulted in the deadly stampede on Meena Street 204
03:11are yet to be ascertained.
03:13What happened was that a group of pilgrims on buses
03:17were allowed to descend onto the pathways
03:19that led to the Jamrat Bridge
03:22at a time that wasn't allocated to them.
03:25Al-Arabia News Channel correspondent in Meena,
03:29Sayyad al-Matrafi said,
03:30As they neared the area,
03:33they converged with an existing group of people
03:35that were already in the area,
03:37which pushed the area to overcapacity.
03:41One day after the Meena crush disaster,
03:44Saudi media publicized a statement
03:46by the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia,
03:50Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdullah al-Ashiq,
03:53exonerated Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef,
03:57known as MBN,
03:58from responsibility for the disaster,
04:01as his title of Minister of the Interior
04:04holds him accountable for safety issues
04:06at the Mecca Shrine.
04:09The Grand Mufti's statement,
04:10which characterized the disaster as
04:12beyond human control,
04:15inevitable and attributable to fate,
04:18immunized MBN against possible domestic criticism.
04:23The exact casualty number
04:25for the Meena crowd crush is disputed.
04:28The Saudi government officially reported 769 deaths,
04:34a number that was not changed,
04:35while Iranian media sources
04:37have proposed totals as great as 4,173.
04:44After a withdrawn early number
04:45given by Saudi authorities,
04:48independent estimates range between
04:502,236 and 2,431 people killed,
04:57with the most recent Associated Press estimate
05:00giving a death toll of 2,411
05:03based on media reports
05:06and official comments
05:07from 36 of the over 180 countries
05:11that sent citizens to the Hedge.
05:15Estimates of the injured and missing
05:17also vary greatly.
05:19Saudi reports claim 934 injured.
05:23Iranian reports are much higher,
05:25estimating more than 2,000 injuries.
05:29On the day of the disaster,
05:31the Saudi Civil Defense Directorate
05:33stated that casualties
05:34were of multiple nationalities
05:36and announced the deployment
05:38of 4,000 personnel to the crush site
05:42alongside 220 emergency response units.
05:46Pilgrims were redirected away
05:48from the crush site
05:49and the Saudi Red Crescent Authority
05:52was mobilized.
05:54Medics at Meena's emergency hospital
05:56said they alone received almost 700 people
05:59on the day of the disaster.
06:01The eight hospitals around the Hedge landmarks
06:05and the six main hospitals in the city of Mecca
06:08were operating at full capacity
06:10after the crush, Medics said.
06:13By October 2015,
06:14the Saudi Arabia Health Ministry
06:16stated that they had completed
06:18the DNA profiling of all the unidentified pilgrims
06:22who were killed or injured in the crush.
06:25DNA samples of the next of kin of victims
06:28were collected at Alnauer Specialist Hospital, Mecca.
06:33Amir Shalabi is a professor of civil engineering
06:36at the University of Toronto's
06:38Transportation Research Institute,
06:41former Hajj Pilgrim
06:42and consultant to Saudi government
06:45on crowd management.
06:48Shalabi, who specializes in transportation planning
06:51for large-scale events,
06:53proposed using smartphones
06:55and other static and dynamic sensors
06:57to provide authorities real-time information
07:01that could identify potential trouble places
07:04during the Hedge.
07:06He also suggests that
07:08some of the effective methods
07:10of highway traffic flow management,
07:12such as flow metering,
07:14could be adapted
07:15for streamlining crowd flows in Mecca.
07:18Keith Still,
07:20professor of crowd science
07:22at Manchester Metropolitan University in Britain,
07:26who helped redesign the Jammarat,
07:28the pillars representing the devil stoned by pilgrims,
07:31after a disaster in 2004,
07:34said there was criticism at the time
07:36that the upgrades at the Jammarat
07:38had not been extended to other areas.
07:41He said,
07:42For complex systems
07:44that flow in and out,
07:46if you make one change along the way,
07:48it can have knock-on
07:50and ripple effects everywhere.
07:52Change any one part of a system
07:55with three million people,
07:56and there's a danger of an accident like this.
08:00Mohamed Ajma,
08:01a physician specializing in emergency medicine
08:04and former manager of a medical center
08:07established to treat Indian Hajj pilgrims,
08:10detailed issues with both the design
08:12of the MENA tent city
08:14and quick access
08:16to disaster medical care at the site.
08:19Ajma discussed structural design flaws in MENA,
08:23calling it a badly designed death trap
08:26in times of disaster,
08:28as it attempts to funnel
08:29tens of thousands of people
08:31through T intersections,
08:33such as the junction of streets 204 and 223,
08:37where the crush occurred.
08:38Compression asphyxia is the cause of death
08:41for most victims of a crowd collapse
08:44and can occur within 10 minutes.
08:47Ajmal notes that
08:49MENA's design
08:50prevents medical care
08:51from arriving within that time,
08:54stating that people at crush sites
08:56are destined to die within minutes
08:58before any medical help
09:01can reach the site.
09:02Lebanon-based Arabic-language daily
09:06Add-Diarr reported that a convoy
09:09escorting Mohammed bin Salman al-Saud,
09:12deputy crown prince
09:13and Saudi minister of defense,
09:16composed of 200 soldiers
09:18and 150 police officers,
09:21initiated the disaster
09:22by blocking a street,
09:24forcing pilgrims to turn around
09:26against the flow of traffic.
09:27The paper also alleged
09:30that the deputy crown prince
09:32and entourage
09:33swiftly left the scene
09:35and that the Saudi authorities
09:36sought to impose a media blackout
09:38on reporting the prince's absence
09:41in the area.
09:43Iranian media
09:44reported the Add-Diarr story
09:46and Iranian Hajj officials
09:48stated that two streets
09:50near the disaster point
09:51had been sealed
09:52for unknown reasons,
09:54while the Iranian Fars News Agency
09:57quoted a member
09:58of the Iraqi parliament,
10:00Hassan Salim,
10:01as saying,
10:02the Mina disaster
10:03was an engineered tragedy
10:05to kidnap the Iraqi
10:06and Iranian officials
10:08on the pretext
10:10of the Mina incident.
10:12A reporter
10:12with the BBC's
10:14Hausa service,
10:15Youssef Ibrahim Yakisai,
10:17confirmed that at least
10:18one road leading
10:20to the Jamrat
10:20was blocked.
10:22Saudi officials
10:23denied the reports,
10:25stating diplomatic convoys
10:27take place
10:27in the south of Mina
10:28and in tunnels,
10:30while the crush
10:31took place
10:31in the north.
10:33The Saudi government
10:34was reported
10:35to have beheaded
10:3628 people
10:37found responsible
10:38for the disaster.
10:40Iran's Ayatollah
10:42Ali Khamenei
10:43accused the Saudis
10:44of killing injured pilgrims
10:46by putting them
10:46in containers
10:47along with the dead.
10:50The 2015 Mina crush
10:51disaster
10:52has increased tensions
10:53in the already
10:54strained relationship
10:56between Saudi Arabia
10:57and Iran
10:58and to calls
10:59from politicians
11:00in a number
11:01of Muslim nations
11:02for changes
11:02in oversight
11:04of Mecca
11:05and the Hajj
11:06and bolstered opposition
11:08to King Salman
11:09among the senior members
11:11of the Saudi Arabian
11:12royal family.
11:14Politicians
11:14and religious leaders
11:15in a number
11:16of Muslim countries
11:17have cited
11:18the 2015 Mina crush
11:20disaster
11:21as a reason
11:22for control
11:23of the Hajj
11:23be given
11:24either to a different nation
11:26or to a pan-Islamic
11:28organization.
11:30Mehmet Ali Sahin,
11:32deputy chair
11:32of Turkey's
11:33Justice and Development Party,
11:36AKP,
11:37criticized
11:38the Saudi organization
11:40and claimed
11:41that Turkey
11:41could do a better job
11:43than Saudi Arabia
11:44at organizing
11:45the Hajj pilgrimage,
11:47calling for Turkey
11:48to be entrusted
11:49with its management.
11:51Nouri al-Malakai,
11:53former prime minister
11:54of Iraq,
11:55proposed that
11:56the Organization
11:57of Islamic Cooperation,
11:59OIC,
12:01should take over
12:01administration
12:02of the Hajj.
12:04Mohammed Imami Kashani,
12:06an Iranian ayatollah,
12:07also demanded transfer
12:09of the control
12:10of the Hajj
12:11to the OIC,
12:13stating,
12:14Saudi Arabia
12:15is incapable
12:16of organizing
12:17the pilgrimage.
12:18The running
12:19of the Hajj
12:19must be handed over
12:21to Islamic states.
12:23Hassan Nasrallah,
12:24Secretary General
12:25of Hezbollah,
12:27stated that
12:28Saudi Arabia
12:29should allow
12:29Muslim countries
12:30to help the kingdom
12:32run the Hajj pilgrimage
12:33rituals,
12:35emphasizing the need
12:36for the formation
12:37of a Muslim committee
12:38to supervise
12:40the management
12:40of the annual
12:42Islamic event.
12:44The Saudi government
12:45rejected such calls.
12:47Saudi Prince
12:48Turkey al-Faisal
12:50stated,
12:51Saudi control
12:52over the Hajj
12:52was a matter
12:54of sovereignty
12:54and privilege
12:55and service.
12:57In 2016,
12:59Supreme Leader
13:00of Iran,
13:01Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,
13:03sent a global message
13:04via his website
13:06severely criticizing
13:07Saudi rulers
13:08for what he called
13:10the crimes
13:11they have caused
13:11throughout the world
13:13of Islam
13:13and asked
13:14they be held responsible.
13:17In his message,
13:18Khamenei described
13:19the nature of Saudi rulers
13:21as blasphemous,
13:23faithless,
13:23dependent,
13:24and materialistic
13:26and asked
13:27the world of Islam
13:28to know them.
13:29He demanded
13:31reconsidering
13:32the management
13:33of two holy places
13:34and the issue
13:35of Hajj
13:36due to what
13:37he described
13:38as Saudi rulers'
13:39oppressive behavior
13:40towards God's guests,
13:42referring to
13:43the 2015 MENA disaster.
13:45Otherwise,
13:46Muslims would face
13:47biggest problems,
13:49he warned.
13:51The hesitation
13:51and failure
13:52to rescue
13:53the half-dead
13:54and injured people
13:55is also obvious
13:56and incontrovertible.
13:58They murdered them,
13:59he said.
14:00They murdered them,
14:02he said.
14:03but we will be blessed in God's name.
14:05God will be blessed.
14:07And we will be blessed in God.
14:09What do we say? We will be blessed on God.
14:11We will be blessed in God.
14:19I'm afraid, but I have to go to the community.
14:25I've been convinced to be on God.
14:27How do you feel?
14:29A few years or so.
14:31We will be blessed by God, who will be blessed in this story.
14:34God will be blessed to beac Blessed Holy would be blessed.
14:43I will be willing to shout medicine again in God.
14:48I will tell you that.
14:49I will be willing, and may I know you come and guarantee these gifts.
14:53It's not the same thing, it's not the same thing, it's not the same thing.
15:23The throne of Iran is the only one who will come from its own country.
15:50Raouhani suggested that the Mina crush could be the result of the Saudi government moving
15:57their best troops to Yemen and leaving Hajj crowd control to less experienced soldiers.
16:04While Ibrahim Raisi, Iran's then-state prosecutor, claimed the disaster had been caused by the
16:10Saudi officials blocking a road so as to clear a path for a Saudi convoy and that the House
16:16of Saud should be held responsible by international law.
16:21Iranian legal experts later decided that Iran could not bring such a case before the International
16:27Court of Justice or the International Criminal Court due to jurisdictional issues.
16:34On November 24, 2015, Iran announced that it was forming its own fact-finding committee
16:41to investigate the disaster.
16:44Iran claims that the death toll of the disaster greatly exceeds what has been reported and
16:50that between 4,700 and 7,500 pilgrims actually died.
16:57The Mina disaster increased and emboldened opposition to Saudi King Salman.
17:03The Guardian reported after the disaster that a senior Saudi prince has launched an unprecedented
17:09call for change in the country's leadership, writing two letters calling for his replacement.
17:17The prince was quoted by the Guardian as saying, the public are also pushing this very hard,
17:23all kinds of people.
17:24They say you have to do this or the country will go to disaster.
17:29According to reports favored to replace Salman is his younger brother, Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz,
17:35another son of Saudi Arabia's founding king, Ibn Saud, and former interior minister.
17:42The likelihood of such a coup, at least in the short term, and the authenticity of the prince's
17:48letter have both been questioned.
17:50However, structural economic problems, the Yemen war, and discord in the royal family all contribute
17:58to the real possibility of instability for Saudi Arabia.
18:02But as the holder of the royal title, custodian of the two holy mosques, King Salman has been
18:10embarrassed by the twin disasters that bracketed the 2015 Hajj season, the Mecca crane collapse,
18:19and the Mina crush.
18:22Description as stampede.
18:25Some academics who study crowd movements and crushing disasters have questioned the use
18:31of the term stampede.
18:34The rhetoric of stampede is often used to imply that the crowd is animalistic or mindless.
18:42But from a crowd psychology point of view, I'm sure that there was a logical explanation
18:47for the crush.
18:49University of Sussex crowd behavior expert Ann Templeton told Newsweek, the density of the
18:56the Hajj has been shown to reach up to six to eight people per square meter.
19:02So I would be very surprised if a stampede, implying people running mindlessly, could occur in the
19:09first place.
19:10The academics argue that the Mina disaster is better described as a progressive crowd collapse,
19:17beginning at densities of about six to seven persons per square meter.
19:23The waves are pressed so closely against each other, they are unable to move as individuals,
19:29and shock waves can travel through a crowd which, at such densities, behave somewhat like
19:36a fluid.
19:37If a single person falls, or other people reach down to help, waves of bodies can be involuntarily
19:46precipitated forward into the open space.
19:50One such shock wave can create other openings in the crowd nearby, precipitating further crushing.
19:57Unable to draw breath, people in a crowd can also be crushed while standing.
20:03The two pyramid shaped adrenal glands, one atop each kidney, are not among the body's larger
20:10organs, each is about two inches in diameter, but in situations of sudden stress, like the
20:17theater fire, they would instantly have prepared the body for flight or fight.
20:25When one becomes frightened, the adrenals release large quantities of the hormone epinephrine into
20:31the blood system, which instantly helped the body adjust to the sudden stress by increasing
20:36the rate and strength of the heartbeat, raising blood pressure, and speeding up the conversion
20:42of glycogen into glucose, providing a burst of energy to the muscles.
20:48For those trying to battle their way to the exits, this adrenaline rush would have propelled
20:53them on in their desperate attempts to escape.
20:56Then there were those seared by the flames.
20:58For them, the end would have come quickly.
21:01The body exposed to fire often assumes what is called the pugilistic attitude, in which the
21:07flexor or bicep muscles contract so that the victim's arms in particular are outstretched
21:14and fixed in an attitude commonly adopted by boxers.
21:18Those who were trampled or were piled on top of one another in the doorways died in still
21:24another way by traumatic or crush asphyxia, a particularly horrific end.
21:31The victim of such crushing would have experienced the sensation of tremendous pressure on the
21:36body, pressure sufficient enough to fracture ribs.
21:41If the person was conscious, they might have felt as if their head were about to explode or
21:47their eyes pop out.
21:50Those victims of the Iroquois who lost consciousness immediately were the fortunate ones.
21:57Slow asphyxia can take two to three minutes to kill.
22:01Such was the fate of those trapped inside what had been advertised as the best theater on earth.
22:09To give you a sense of just how forceful that is, a single crowd can be strong enough to
22:14bend metal in situations like this.
22:17It's important to always exercise caution as big crowds have the potential to get out
22:21of hand.
22:22But if you find yourself in the middle of a crowd that's starting to move or crush in
22:26on you, the best thing you can do is to not panic.
22:30Do everything you can to stay on your feet and try to communicate with those around you
22:34with hand gestures.
22:36Don't fight the crowd.
22:38That will only tire you out.
22:39If the crowd starts moving, keep moving with it by trying to angle off diagonally to reach
22:45the edges.
22:46If you see a tree, car or anything large, try to reach it to get some cover from the crowd
22:51and get above it if you can.
22:53And finally, try keeping your arms up to your chest like a boxer and if you can, maintain
22:59a boxer stance with feet apart to keep your balance.
23:03Don't forget to keep your eyes open.
23:05But if you do end up getting pushed to the ground, try your best to get up if you can.
23:10If not, and you're stuck on the ground with the crowd around you, curl up into a ball and
23:15put your arms over your head protecting it as best you can.
23:18But keep trying to get back up when you get a chance.
23:21And if you're at the concert with a friend and can help them without losing balance and
23:25falling yourself, then help them as best you can.
23:28Ask them to reach an arm up and grab it while trying to get others around you to help.
23:33Once the crowd dissipates, if you notice someone not moving, see if they need help.
23:37If they're not breathing, then you need to perform hands-only CPR, which means pushing
23:42on their chest at the rate of 100 beats per minute.
23:45You can sing the song, Staying Alive, in your head for the beat until help arrives.
23:49And if they're bleeding, you'll need to apply direct pressure with whatever cloth you have
23:53available and keep talking to them to try and keep them calm until help arrives.
23:59It's better to be prepared than to be thrust into a situation like this blind.
24:04But don't forget to always monitor the situation around you because it can keep you and your loved
24:09one safe.
24:10Use of the word stampede, says Edwin Galea of the University of Greenwich, is the result
24:17of pure ignorance and laziness.
24:19It gives the impression that it was a mindless crowd only caring about themselves and that
24:26they were prepared to crush people.
24:28In reality, people are only directly crushed by others who have no choice.
24:34And the people who can choose are too far away from the epicenter to be aware of what is
24:41happening.
24:42According to experts, true stampedes and panics rarely occur except when a crowd is fleeing
24:50in fear, such as from a fire.
24:53And rarely does trampling by other human beings in such stampede conditions result in fatal injuries.
25:02If you look at the analysis, I've not seen any instances of the cause of mass fatalities
25:08being a stampede, says Keith Still, Professor of Crowd Science at Manchester Metropolitan University.
25:17People don't die because they panic.
25:19They panic because they are dying.
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