A ventilation-system failure is being blamed for a stampede in a packed pedestrian tunnel - killing an estimated 1,400 pilgrims en route to this holy city.
"It was God's will, which is above everything," King Fahd said of the disaster. "It was fate."Sources said a power failure caused the air conditioning in the 1,500-foot-long, 60-foot-wide tunnel to switch off in 112-degree heat on Monday, setting off the stampede.
The disaster occurred during the hajj, the world's largest religious gathering, which draws about 2 million Moslems. Observances had largely ended, and pilgrims were observing post-hajj rituals or preparing to leave.
Asian and Middle Eastern diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said most of the victims were Malaysian and Indonesian pilgrims.
Doctors at hospitals said large numbers of Egyptians and Pakistanis were also among the dead.
The official Saudi media gave no specific casualty figure, though King Fahd acknowledged indirectly that there had been a large loss of life.
He called the dead "martyrs of the Islamic world."
"Had they not died there, they would have died elsewhere and at the same predestined moment," the king said at a meeting Monday night with pilgrimage security officials.
The deaths shattered what had been a peaceful observance of the annual hajj and was the worst pilgrimage tragedy in recent years. In previous years, the celebration was has been marred by terrorist attacks and riots.
Diplomats said the tunnel became packed beyond capacity when some pilgrims stopped in the middle while people outside continued to push their way in.
A witness said the tunnel, which can hold up to 1,000 pedestrians, became clogged with up to 5,000 people.
"With the lack of oxygen, a good number collapsed unconscious, and some died. There was also a stampede," said the witness.
He said he helped carry victims to the ambulances waiting by the tunnel's exits but that he did not know how many of the stricken were dead and how many were simply unconscious.
The pedestrian walkway runs under part of a mountain. Cars sometimes use it as a shortcut, filling it with choking fumes.
As the scope of the disaster became apparent, ambulances and security forces rushed to the tunnel, which joins Mecca and the pilgrim tent city of Mina.