The Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization in cooperation with the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs (a government body that receives its funding directly from the national budget) is providing certain benefits to families of victims of the Saudi stampede in the last hajj season. “All children of victims in the incident will be given specific quotas in the university entrance exam (konkoor), exemption from compulsory military service, as well as other insurance benefits provided by the foundation,” said Saeed Ohadi, head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, ILNA reported. On September 24, 2015, a stampede during the hajj ritual “Stoning the Devil’ at Mina near Mecca caused the deaths of at least 3,000 pilgrims of different nationalities, including 469 Iranian pilgrims, who were suffocated or crushed in the stampede, said to be one of the deadliest Hajj disaster in history.
