The Saudi Arabian civil defense says at least 220 people have been killed and nearly 500 others injured in a stampede near the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
An estimated 2 million people are there for the traditional hajj pilgrimage.
The stampede reportedly taking place in Mina, a tent city about three miles east of Mecca.
The exact circumstances surrounding the stampede are not yet known, and authorities expect the number of dead and wounded to rise.
There has been a lengthy history of crowd disasters during the hajj, which is an event that every Muslim is required to complete at least once during their lifetime.
In 2006, 364 pilgrims died in a stampede near the entrance of a bridge leading to Mina, and in 2004, 251 people were killed in a similar incident.
More recently, in the days leading up to this year’s hajj, more than 100 people were killed and hundreds more injured after a crane collapsed in bad weather and fell onto the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
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