First Iran hajj dead flown home nine days after stampede

Yahoo – AFP, Arthur Macmillan, 3 Oct 2015

The Iranian honour guard carries the caskets of Iranian pilgrims, killed in a stampede

 at the annual hajj, during a repatriation ceremony on their arrival on October 3,

2015 in Tehran (AFP Photo/Atta Kenare)

Tehran (AFP) - The first bodies of Iranians killed in a stampede at the hajj arrived home from Saudi Arabia Saturday after a controversial nine-day delay and questions over the final death toll.

President Hassan Rouhani and other top officials laid white flowers on coffins at a sombre ceremony in Tehran for the 104 pilgrims -- among 464 Iranians declared dead in the September 24 crush.

Iran has accused Saudi Arabia of incompetence in its handling of safety at the hajj, further souring relations already strained by the civil war in Syria and conflict in Yemen.

Iranian officials pray over the caskets 

of Iranian pilgrims killed in the hajj 

stampede as the bodies arrived in Tehran

 on October 3, 2015 (AFP Photo/Atta 

Kenare)

"If it were proved that some (authorities) were guilty in this accident, we will not forgive," Rouhani said as the bodies emerged in red caskets from a cargo plane at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran.

The president was accompanied by the heads of Iran's judiciary and parliament as well as the chief of staff of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's office.

"Our language in this accident was one of brotherhood and respect and the language of diplomacy was used when necessary," Rouhani said. "If needed, the language of authority will also be used."

Iran has been deeply critical of the slow pace at which the Saudi authorities have identified the dead.

More bodies were expected to be flown home later on Saturday but Iran's health minister said not all of the Iranian dead had yet been found and many were thought to be lying unidentified in sealed containers.

"We hope with Saudi cooperation, we can find the bodies of these victims which might be among the corpses from other countries," Hassan Hashemi told the official IRNA news agency.

Iranian families face a further delay in receiving their loved ones for burial as DNA testing has been deemed necessary.

"The ID tags on the coffins do not match the victims' identities and the existing lists in Mehrabad Airport," the ISNA news agency cited an unnamed official as saying.

Memorial ceremonies on Sunday

The tragedy will be marked with memorial ceremonies in Tehran and in provincial capitals on Sunday.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (C) 

attended a repatriation ceremony for the

 pilgrims who were among at least 464 

Iranians killed in the hajj stampede on 

September 24, 2015 (AFP Photo/

Atta Kenare)

Khamenei, Iran's supreme guide, demanded on Wednesday that Saudi Arabia apologise to the bereaved and to the world's Muslims

"The slightest disrespect towards tens of thousands of Iranian pilgrims in Mecca and Medina and not fulfilling their obligation to transfer holy bodies will have Iran's tough and fierce reaction," he said.

Rouhani called for a fact-finding commission into the disaster as all Islamic countries deserved to know the cause.

Saudi authorities have yet to provide a breakdown of the nationalities of the 769 pilgrims they say died, but many countries have provided their own individual tolls.

Tallies of the dead from foreign officials and media from 24 countries put the dead at 1,036, well in excess of the Saudi figure.

With many more pilgrims still listed as missing, Iranian officials say the real death toll is between 2,000 and 4,000, and many of the dead have yet to be identified.

It took a week before Iran was able to confirm 464 of its nationals had died as officials spent days scouring Saudi hospitals for the missing without success.

It is the highest confirmed death toll among foreign nationalities by far. Egypt has 126 dead and 110 missing, and Indonesia has 91 dead.

While Iran has been vocal, official reaction elsewhere in the Muslim world has been more restrained, although survivors and bereaved families have criticised safety measures in place at the hajj.