A stampede during one of the last rituals of the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca has killed more than 300 people and injured 450 others in Saudi Arabia.
CNN reports that the stampede occurred Thursday during the ritual known as “stoning the devil” in the tent city of Mina, about 2 miles from Mecca. . “We have a stampede accident in Mina, and civil defense is dealing with it,” said Brig. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, an Interior Ministry spokesman.
The ministry said the latest death toll is 310, but the numbers have been climbing steadily.
Officials deployed 4,000 workers and 220 ambulances and other vehicles to Mina to help with the disaster.
Hundreds have been killed in past years during the same ceremony.
In 2006, a stampede there killed at least 363 people.
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