Kenyan pilgrims jet back, recount Hajj chaos

Muslim faithful hug their relatives at the Moi International Airport in Mombasa Friday. More than 200 Muslims returned home from their Hajj Pilgrim to Saudia Arabia. [PHOTO: OMONDI ONYANGO/STANDARD]

NAIROBI: Joyous families celebrated yesterday as their relatives returned home from the pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia’s Mecca city where several Kenyan pilgrims died in a stampede that claimed hundreds of lives.

At least eight Kenyans, including the wife of a former MP from Mombasa, remain missing after the accident in which six of their compatriots were confirmed to have died. The pilgrims died in Mina, a town neighbouring Mecca, where they were performing a ritual called “Stoning the Devil”.