JEDDAH [SCN] 4/20/97 - The actual death toll from the Haj fire in Saudi Arabia is much higher than the authorities admit. Some 2,000 pilgrims were killed and more than 9,500 injured by the fire, followed by mass hysteria, panic and stampede, according to a Saudi intelligence source. Saudi authorities were still trying to identify more than 1,000 of the dead and determine their nationality. The source said identification was difficult as many bodies were severely burnt.

The fire swept through some 70,000 tents pitched on the arid plains of Mina, near Makkah on Tuesday 15 April 1997. The sources confirmed that 2,000 pilgrims killed by the fire at pilgrims' camps. Eyewitnesses said that the dead were mostly Muslims from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. The official Saudi Press Agency said the fire started at a bridge linking Makkah and Mina, and that heavy winds spread the blaze to Mina, site of the tent compound. The fire spread quickly in winds gusting at up to 30 miles per hour (46km/hour). The fire had also engulfed Syrian, Lebanese, Egyptian, Sudanese, Yemeni and Moroccan sections of the camp. Eyewitnesses said helicopters were brought in to aid firefighters in the 104-degree heat. The fire erupted shortly before noon last Tuesday as two million Muslims from some 100 countries, gathered for pilgrimage, were beginning to move to the arid plains of Mount Arafat.

Fahd, the Saudi dictator, again expressed his sorrow. "I would like to offer my condolences to my brothers, the families and the relatives of those killed and injured, inside and outside the kingdom. I ask that God gives them patience to cope," he said.

"There was chaos everywhere. Panic spread through the camps as fast as the fire," said a Saudi newspaper reporter at the encampment who spoke on condition of anonymity. The blaze, sparked at midday and extinguished after about seven hours, was believed to have been caused by the explosion of a type of gas cylinder used for cooking. Hours after the fire was put out, a cloud of smoke still hung over the encampment, and was visible miles away. The fatal blaze is the latest tragedy to strike Muslims on pilgrimage to Makkah, their holiest shrine. Able bodied Muslims are obliged to make the haj at least once if they can afford it. The worst of recent Makkah tragedies was a stampede during the 1990 haj in which 1,420 hajjis were crushed to death in a tunnel. In 1994, 271 pilgrims were killed during a stampede at Mina.

Saudi civil defense forces from Makkah, Jeddah and Taif rushed to the fire scene last week, handing out tents and supplies. The injured were carried away on stretchers and in people's arms, while others wearing white robes for the pilgrimage fled along smoke-filled alleys between 70,000 tents. Later pilgrims wandered amid the smoldering remains of tents. Many appeared lost as they searched for relatives or friends.

Eyewitnesses said they had seen hundreds of bodies, most of them trampled underfoot in the pandemonium. Victims of the fire had been rushed to ten nearby hospitals, and specialized medical centers several hours away were on high alert in case seriously injured victims would be transferred. State controlled Saudi television showed many of the victims in hospital beds, some of them old and frail, others young and afraid. One bandaged young child stared into the camera, face distorted with pain. Many patients displayed their badly burnt bodies.

"This was another preventable tragedy. It was caused by a failure in prevent and management. The Makkah municipality had to send 250 undertakers to bury the dead," according to MIRA (the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia).

"During and after the fire there was chaos and panic, and the emergency services failed to provide timely treatment. The priority of the unaccountable Saudi officials before, during and after Haj, from the king Fahd down, is almost always directed towards the VIPs and political security or survival," a Saudi intelligence source told Shanti RTV news agency.

However, royal Saudi dictators, the self-preserving custodians of Islam's two holiest shrines, claim the country has spent US $19 billion on expanding and upgrading haj facilities to ensure the comfort and safety of the pilgrims. Last week more than 16,000 Saudi security agents patrolled the holy areas and roads leading to the holy sites and hundreds of police helicopters circled overhead. Security cameras installed on main roads, bridges and tunnels monitor pilgrims' movements to ensure that haj is policed and video-taped. Saudi officials order the pilgrims to abide by security instructions. More than 37,500 doctors, nurses, security agents, bakers, cleaners and garbage collectors are hired on short-term contracts every year to service the pilgrims.

"Investigations indicate that the fire was an accident," Saudi ambassador in London Ghazi Algosaibi said in a statement. "We are faced with a human tragedy which has no political implications".