Talk:1990 Mecca tunnel tragedy

Latest comment: 8 years ago by Milowent in topic Tunnel location and information

Cause of deaths edit

SheriffIsInTown, what is your basis for concluding that "most people got killed because of suffocation due to failure of ventilation system in the tunnel, people just could not get out of the tunnel and died because of suffocation."? I think the investigations of this event were far from satisfactory and can find no good evidence regarding which causes of death were most to blame. However I understand there may be a 1992 US government source that has greater detail on the incident which I have not yet found.--Milowenthasspoken 14:57, 29 September 2015 (UTC)Reply

Tunnel location and information edit

Can anyone help identify, with sourcing, the exact tunnel where this occurred? Some English sources refer to it as the "al muaissem tunnel" with various spellings (including "Mo'essem"[1]). Sources also conflict regarding when it was built, some sources make it sound like it was built 2 year prior to the tragedy, as part of the building program initiated by the Saudis in 1988 after the 1987 Mecca incident. One British legislative source suggests it was built around 1979. It is also unclear whether this particular tunnel still exists. I find the lack of readily available sourcing for such a large tragedy to be incredible. Outside Western newspapers, Google news archive does have some nice coverage from the English Malaysian paper New Straits Times, but the early July 1990 issues are missing.--Milowenthasspoken 13:43, 6 October 2015 (UTC)Reply

  • Report of new tunnel plan, Aug 1990: (2 Aug 1990). Saudis planning new tunnel, New Straits Times - says south Asian pilgrims currently only have one tunnel to go two ways, plan to a build a new tunnel so each can be one way?. --Milowenthasspoken 15:29, 6 October 2015 (UTC)Reply
  • Another source to review, a book by Michael Wolfe, an American who was at the 1990 hajj.[2] (spells tunnel "Al-Moaisim") ETA: Wolfe says tunnel is near the slaughterhouse; where that was in 1990 may not be same as today (but there is one called "Al Moiesam" on google maps on the east side of the 4th Ring Road.[3] -Milowenthasspoken 22:17, 6 October 2015 (UTC)Reply