Missing Ghanaian pilgrims in Mecca found

Fifteen Ghanaian Muslim pilgrims who went missing after a stampede in Mecca have now been found, authorities at the Ghana mission in Saudi Arabia have confirmed.

The mission in a statement signed by the ambassador, Alhaji Said Sinare said, 18 Ghanaians went missing after a head count.

“There are currently about 18 Ghanaian pilgrims missing and cannot be accounted for. So far, however, the search was able to locate more than 15 of the total number of Ghanaian missing pilgrims, and are working around the clock to locate the rest who are still missing.”

The statement added that such things usually happen “due to the logistical challenges of taking care of more than two million people at the same place and time” but are usually “found at the end of the pilgrimage when the pilgrims are about leaving for their various destinations.”

“It is our hope that all of them will be found before the first scheduled return flight to Accra on October 8, 2015,” the statement added.

It added that three Ghanaians died during the stampede while going through a ritual known as ‘stoning the devil,’ adding that five others also lost their lives through health complications.

“The 2015 Hajj Pilgrimage will go down in history as one of the most challenging one due to the two unfortunate incidents that occurred before and during the Hajj Pilgrimage, respectively. The first incident was when a crawler crane toppled over unto worshippers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah killing 111 people and injured about 394. The second was the stampede at Mina near Makkah".