NUMBERS 769 and counting

It is the disastrous number that announces the deadliest Hajj episode in the recent time. On Thursday, more than 769 people were killed in a stampede outside the holy city of Mecca during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, when two large groups of pilgrims arrived together at a crossroad. At least 18 Bangladeshis were killed in this crowd crush while many other got severely injured and another great number of people still remain missing since the stampede. This is not the first terrible accident that occurred during the Hajj this year, more than 100 people died when a construction crane collapsed near Mecca's Grand Mosque.