At least 345 pilgrims were crushed to death today during the stoning ritual on the last day of the Haj. This was the worst tragedy to beset the sacred ritual in over a decade.‘‘So far, the number of confirmed deaths is 345 and the number of injured in the hospital is 289,’’ Health Minister Hamad bin Abdullah al-Manei told Saudi state television. Many of the injured have already been discharged. The pilgrims were crushed at the eastern entrance of the disaster-prone Jamarat Bridge as they jostled to perform the stoning between noon and sunset in Mena, a narrow valley near Mecca. ‘‘It was like the road of death there,’’ one pilgrim said, describing women fainting and people elbowing and pushing to get closer to the wall where pilgrims direct their stones. ‘‘The people who died were trying to get onto the bridge to do their stoning. But a wave of people came from the (other) direction trying to get off the bridge. That’s when people died,’’ said Egyptian pilgrim Amr Gad. Thursday’s crush intensified as many pilgrims scrambled to pick up belongings lost in the heavy crowds, officials said. — (Reuters) Search for Indian pilgrims on
