VIDEO: At least 753 die in hajj stampede, 13 Turks missing

At least 753 pilgrims were killed while 18 Turks remain missing after a human stampede outside the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, where some two million people are performing an annual hajj pilgrimage.

In addition to the 753 killed, at least 805 others were injured in the stampede on Sept. 24, which took place on Street 204 of the camp city at Mina, a few kilometers east of Mecca, where pilgrims stay for several days during the climax of the hajj.

In a press conference, the head of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet), Mehmet Görmez, stated no news had been received about the 13 Turkish pilgrims known to have been in the area of the stampede. 

Although Turkish groups were prohibited from entering that area, a total of 18 pilgrims were believed to be in the vicinity.

Görmez specified that nine Turkish citizens each from two agencies were reportedly in the area, yet officials have been unable to make contact with 13 of them as of late Sept.  24.
The pilgrimage, the world's largest annual gathering of people, has been the scene of deadly disasters in the past, including stampedes, tent fires and riots. 

The last major incident in haj took place in 2006, when at least 346 pilgrims were killed as they attempted to perform the stoning of the devil at Jamarat. 

However, massive infrastructure upgrades and extensive spending on crowd control technology over the past two decades had made such events far less common. 

Street 204 is one of the two main arteries leading through the camp at Mina to Jamarat, where pilgrims ritually stone the devil by hurling pebbles at three large pillars. 

Reuters reporters in another part of Mina said they could hear police and ambulance sirens...