Over 2 million Muslim pilgrims started moving at sunrise yesterday towards Mount Arafat to perform the central rite of haj, the annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.

In the aftermath of the death of 76 people on Thursday in the collapse of an ageing hostel in the heart of Mecca, a senior Saudi official said the kingdom has prepared itself to deal with major potential emergencies during the haj including fires, stampedes, torrential rain, food poisoning, terror acts and even chemical attacks.

Although some pilgrims, especially Egyptians, had arrived in Arafat the day before, the great majority flocked from the valley of Mina, to the north, where they had spent the night huddled under tents or camped out on the streets with their mats and blankets.

Tracing a journey made by the Prophet Mohammed more than 1,400 years ago, pilgrims gathered for an emotional assembly in Arafat, a small plain some 250 metres above sea level surrounded by mountains on all sides.

They prayed for mercy and forgiveness at the scene of the prophet's last sermon and in a place where some believe Adam and Eve reunited after they were banished by God from paradise, according to the Bible.

The rite of wukuf, or standing, before sunset on Arafat is the high point of the haj and without which it would be considered incomplete.

More than 1.55 million foreign pilgrims of 177 nationalities are taking part, up 1.2 percent from the previous pilgrimage, deputy interior minister Prince Mohammad Bin Nayef Bin Abdel Aziz said in a statement.

"This does not include Saudis, foreigners living in Saudi, and pilgrims coming on their own outside the tours," interior ministry spokesman Major General Mansur al-Turki said on Sunday, suggesting that an estimate of 2.5 million may be close.

He said the exact number would only be known today when pilgrims begin flocking back to Mina to perform the haj's most dangerous ritual involving the stoning of three pillars symbolizing Satan's powers.

"This year we drafted a special plan to channel pilgrims to jamarat," said Turki using the Arabic term for the pillars.

He said pedestrian traffic would move on three main roads while two new tunnels were added to transport pilgrims in buses to the area, which has been the scene of several tragedies such as a stampede in 2004 that killed 251 and another in 1990 that killed 1,426.

Almost 60,000 security, health, emergency and other personnel are involved in organising the haj this year, trying to make sure none of the deadly incidents that have marred it in recent years are repeated.

In addition, 14 hospitals and dozens of clinics and field facilities are ready to deal with any contingency.

"We have specified in our plan 12 major emergencies that may occur during the haj," said General Adel Zamzami, civil defence chief for the western region.

Overcrowding fears

Highlighting the challenges authorities face each year in managing the massive gathering, police officers were driving around Mina late on Sunday pleading with pilgrims on loudspeakers to get off the streets to prevent overcrowding.

Amid a sea of humanity Mohammed al-Hakami, 27, sat outside a blue and red nylon tent set up on the median of one of Mina's main roads.

He came from the southern Saudi province of Jizan six hours away with his 90-year-old father, who is diabetic and suffers from high blood pressure.

"I am afraid for him but he insisted on coming," said Hakami as the old man lay on a cardboard box nearby.

Many pilgrims come despite their poor health and brave the perils of hajj. Some even cherish the opportunity to die during their pilgrimage, perceiving it as an opportunity for martyrdom, an idea assailed by many clerics.

This year, health experts have said the huge crowds could create the conditions in which a pandemic strain of bird flu may emerge. But that did not seem to concern many pilgrims.

"This has been a life goal for me. I thank God that I could do haj finally, and I was not going to let bird flu or anything else stop me from coming," said Farouk Ibrahim, 56, from Egypt.

"This is my first haj. I took the influenza vaccination but in the end I fear God and not the bird flu," said Umm Atef, a 51-year-old Egyptian housewife.

Saudi Arabia says it has spent nearly US$7 million on Tamiflu, a drug that can reduce the severity of the current strain of bird flu if taken within days of symptoms appearing.

Many pilgrims come from Asian countries, where the deadly H5N1 form of bird flu has killed more than 70 people since 2003. Three children in the east of Turkey, which has a large haj contingent, have died from the virus over the past week.

"All ports have been completely closed and all the pilgrims who have entered the kingdom are free of contagious diseases," said Tarek Arnous, an emergency health official in Mecca.

Source: China Daily