Five days after Thursday, September 24 Muna stampede which led to the death of 54 Nigerians and hundreds of other pilgrims participating in this year’s hajj, 253 Nigerians are yet to be accounted for, it was learnt.
Already, the report, containing the list is stated to be on its way to Abuja, in line with the directive from the Presidency to the National Hajj Commission (NAHCON), to provide an update on the matter.
Based on what was gathered, the missing Nigerians were neither found in their accommodation in Makkah, nor were they found in mortuaries in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
However, it was gathered that a truck load of corpses is yet to be offloaded by the Saudi Arabia authority. This, it was further learnt, is making it difficult for countries to identify dead nationals.
The source said: “Once the corpses are offloaded, the finger prints would be matched, and the corpses can be matched. Until that is done, it will be wrong for you to conclude that these people have all died.
“However, I also agree with you that it is possible they are dead…
“But the truth, again, is that the figure you have just quoted was far below what we had by Monday. By Monday, it was over 300. So, it only came down to 253 by today (Monday) and that is what I can confirm to you was sent to the Presidency.“