Makkah: At least 717 people were killed and 863 others injured on Thursday, in a stampede during the Haj at Mina, near the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, one of the worst incidents in nearly a decade to hit the annual pilgrimage.

The stampede occurred on the first day of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of the Sacrifice. Eyewitnesses said the stampede happened at the entrance of the Jamarat bridge near Street 204, not inside of the area where the stoning pillars are. Two teams of medical screening have been set up at the site of the incident.