At least 717 people were killed, and 805 were injured, in a stampede near Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Thursday morning.<br />The deaths - at an intersection in Mina, about six miles east of the city - occurred around 9 a.m. on the first day of Eid al-Adha, one of the holiest holidays in the Muslim calendar, and as millions of Muslims were making their pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca.<br />It appeared to be the deadliest accident during the hajj since 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims perished in a stampede in a tunnel linking Mecca and Mina.<br />And it occurred less than two weeks after a large construction crane toppled and crashed into the Grand Mosque in Mecca, killing at least 111 people and injuring 394 others.
