TEHRAN - HAJJ - STAMPEDE

Members of the media joined relatives to welcome home Hajj pilgrims as they arrived in Tehran, Iran on October 1, 2015 from Saudi Arabia. The pilgrims had been at Mecca to partake in the Hajj, thought to be the largest annual gathering of people on the planet. According to reports, over 1,000 people were killed during a stampede on September 24, with Iran announcing that the number of its citizens who had been killed in the incident had reached 464. Officials in Iran, Pakistan, India and Indonesia have alleged that the death toll sits at over 1,000, while Saudia Arabia claims it is 769. Tehran accused Saudi Arabia of hindering efforts to bring those who had been killed in the stampede back to Iran, with an agreement only being reached six days after the accident. �