A month or so ago there was a stampede at the “Stoning of the Devil” event at the Hajj-land theme park in Mecca. At the time the death toll was reported in the hundreds. Seems like it might’ve been under reported.

Stampede At Hajj In Saudi Arabia Reportedly Killed At Least 2,177

This is approximately 2/3 the death toll of 9/11 (or about 1.5 Titanics). All because some people wanted to chuck some rocks at some posts.

The article suggests that the Iranian government claims the death toll is over 4,700.

The Saudi government seems pretty blase about a death toll that would be considered horrific had it occurred in the civilized world. This therefore reminds me of a thought I expressed some time back… if someone wanted to create the greatest carnage possible via biological warfare (spreading plague or smallpox or ebola or some such), Mecca during the hajj would seem to be the prime target. *Vast* numbers of people from all over the third world, packed in tightly for a short period and then re-distributed back out into the world. Given how little the local government cares about the health and wellbeing of the visitors, it seems that spreading a horrifying disease should be relatively straightforward and easy. It seems like even if the Saudis found out about an ongoing plot to spread ebola (say by way of handheld “misters” with tainted water), they’d probably not do much of anything terribly effective to deal with it. Probably get the moneybags hajjis out of harms way and leave the peons to their fate, hoping they all get home before they get sick and keel over.

With that, it might be time for modern nations to consider an automatic quarantine period for anyone returning from Mecca.