The hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, may be spiritually uplifting, but it has often proved physically dangerous. The grim toll:
Last week: A chartered plane carrying 247 Muslims home to Nigeria crashed leaving Jidda, killing all aboard.
1990: At least 1,426 were trampled to death or suffocated in a tunnel near the holy sites.
1987: An attempt to quell Iranians staging a violent political protest against the U.S., the Soviet Union and Israel left 402 dead, 649 wounded in Mecca.
1980: A jet departing from the Saudi capital of Riyadh caught fire when...
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