Saudi authorities have taken steps to prevent stampedes
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The BBC News website looks at some of the deadliest incidents to hit the annual Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in recent years.
2006: At least 345 pilgrims die in a crush during the stone-throwing ritual, and hundreds are injured.
The stampede took place at the foot of the bridge of Jamarat, where pilgrims hurl stones at three pillars representing the spot where the devil is said to have appeared to Abraham.
Officials said that the crush happened after pieces of luggage spilled from moving buses in front of one of the entrances to the bridge, causing pilgrims to trip.
2004: 251 pilgrims are trampled to death in a 27-minute stampede during the stoning ritual in Mina. Saudi officials said many of the victims had not been authorised to participate in the ceremony, after new procedures were introduced following previous stampedes.
2003: 14 people are crushed to death when pilgrims returning from the stoning ritual run into pilgrims coming the other way.
2001: 35 pilgrims are killed when a huge crowd surges towards one of the three giant pillars representing the devil.
1998: 118 pilgrims are trampled to death after panic erupts when several people fall off an overpass during the stoning.
1997: At least 340 pilgrims are killed and 1,500 injured when
fire fuelled by high winds sweeps through a tent city in Mina.
1994: 270 pilgrims die in a stampede during the stoning ritual.
1990: 1,426 pilgrims, mainly Asian, die in a stampede in an overcrowded tunnel leading to holy sites.
1987: 402 people, including 275 Iranians (according to Saudi figures), die when security forces break up an anti-US demonstration by Iranian pilgrims.
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