At least 63 Indians have been reported missing after the 22 September Haj stampede in Mina near Mecca in Saudi Arabia's Makkah province.
A total of 45 Indian pilgrims have died in the stampede so far and 50 others are undergoing treatment at different hospitals across the desert country.
Indian officials in Saudi Arabia are still in the process of identifying the Indian pilgrims and fear the death toll to rise in the coming days. Consulate General of India in Jeddah BS Mubarak has sent a list of missing Indians to New Delhi, according to The Indian Express report.
"Mubarak sent the list of missing Indians to the Ministry of External Affairs Wednesday. Our officials are trying to locate them," a South Block source of the daily said.
Among the 63 missing Indian pilgrims, 20 are said to be from Gujarat, nine each from Uttar Pardesh and West Bengal, six pilgrims are from Jharkhand, four each from Assam and Jammu & Kashmir, and two each from Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana.
"Indian Haj Mission Doctors are being sent to hospitals in and around Mecca to identify them. The challenge is that Saudi authorities are yet to release complete details of pilgrims who died," an Indian diplomat from Jeddah said.
The relatives of the Indians who went to Saudi Arabia for Haj have reached Mecca to identify the victims. The Indian authorities at Mecca are also assisting the families to identify their family members.
Over 1,000 Muslim pilgrims have been killed in the stampede in Mina during the Haj. Hundreds of others are undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Saudi.
