Saudi Arabia: Pilgrims' Plight

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The hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, may be spiritually uplifting, but it has often proved physically dangerous. The grim toll:

Last week: A chartered plane carrying 247 Muslims home to Nigeria crashed leaving Jidda, killing all aboard.

1990: At least 1,426 were trampled to death or suffocated in a tunnel near the holy sites.

1987: An attempt to quell Iranians staging a violent political protest against the U.S., the Soviet Union and Israel left 402 dead, 649 wounded in Mecca.

1980: A jet departing from the Saudi capital of Riyadh caught fire when one of the passengers lighted a butane stove in an aisle to brew tea, killing 301, mostly Saudi Arabians and Pakistanis.

1974: A chartered Dutch DC-8 ferrying 182 Indonesian pilgrims to Mecca crashed in Sri Lanka, resulting in their deaths.