Originally published on 24 September, 2015

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At least 717 pilgrims died and 863 more were injured in a stampede on the outskirts of the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia on Thursday.

The stampede happened at midmorning in the city of Mina, about 5 kilometers (three miles) from Mecca, which houses more than 160,000 tents where pilgrims spend the night during the pilgrimage.

Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims were taking part in the “stoning of the devil,” the last major rite of the Hajj. According to Al Arabiya, the stampede did not happen inside the area where pilgrims throw stones at pillars that represent the devil, but at the entrance of the Jamarat bridge near Street 204. Reuters said it was caused by large numbers of people pushing.

Al Jazeera quoted Saudi-owned al-Arabiya TV channel saying that the head of the Central Hajj Committee, Prince Khaled al-Faisal, blamed the stampede on "some pilgrims from African nationalities.”

About 4,000 rescue services personnel and 220 ambulances were sent to the scene.

Stampedes during the hajj are not unusual, but this accident was the deadliest disaster since at Mina since 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims were killed in a stampede.

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