On Thursday, more than 700 people were killed and about 800 injured in a stampede, the worst tragedy at the annual Hajj pilgrimage in 25 years. The Jamarat or "stoning of the devil", the last rite of the pilgrimage, has been the cause of several stampedes in the past, the worst of which was in 1990 when 1,426 people were killed. Thursday's tragedy occurred despite a massive five-tier bridge and several safety measures that were put in place following a similar accident in 2006.

The five-storey bridge has 12 entrances and 12 exits, "distributed among all four directions", in addition to emergency exits, thermal imaging cameras, and an air-conditioning system. It can accommodate a total of 300,000 pilgrims per hour. In their focus on the new $1.2 billion Jamarat bridge though, the authorities didn’t consider a stampede on the narrow paths leading up to it.

Thursday's stampede took place near a T-shaped intersection of narrow streets in Mina, a "tent city" where pilgrims stay to participate in the Jamarat. The immediate cause of the stampede is unclear. Several Arab news outlets reported that the stampede was linked to the arrival of Prince Mohammad bin Salman al-Saud and his large security entourage. The papers cited sources as saying two roads were closed to let the prince and his entourage through. However, Saudi Arabia has denied this.

Jamarat is a symbolic performance of Prophet Abraham's stoning of the devil. The story goes when Abraham was going to sacrifice his son Ishmael on God's command, the devil appeared to him three times to dissuade him. Abraham flung seven stones at the devil each time. Just before Ishmael was due to be sacrificed, God replaced him with a sheep. Pilgrims fling pebbles at three walls, representing the three times the devil appeared to Abraham.