Nigeria may have recorded the highest human losses in the tragedy Thursday in Saudi Arabia, when hundreds of pilgrims died in a stampede and intense heat on their way to stoning the Devil in Mina.
Iran for now has recorded the highest losses: 228 pilgrims at the last count.
Nigeria may outstrip the figure with 244 pilgrims yet unaccounted for and fears that they may have died.
So far, 64 pilgrims have been confirmed dead.
The National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) on Tuesday gave the revised figure today, saying that 10 more corpses have been identified.
NAHCON declared 54 dead on Monday.
Giving newsmen update on the incident in Mecca, Alhaji Uba Mana, the Director, Public Affairs of the commission, said 244 pilgrims have been declared missing.
Mana said 71 pilgrims were injured as against the 61 pilgrims earlier announced by the commission.
He said of the 64 deceased pilgrims, 46 were transported to Saudi Arabia by state pilgrims’ welfare agencies and 18 by private tour operators.
Mana also said that 12 of the 71 injured pilgrims were transported to Saudi Arabia by tour operator and 59 by state pilgrims’ welfare agencies.
He said the deceased were from Adamawa,Bauchi, Borno, Ekiti, Jigawa, FCT, Cross Rivers, Gombe, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kaduna, Kwara, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Plateau, Rivers Sokoto, Yobe, Taraba, and Zamfara.
Close to 1,000 pilgrims may now have died, and 805 others injured, during Thursday’s stampede on the way to the Jamrat complex (stoning site) in Mina, Saudi Arabia.