Tragic deaths at Makkah

Our heart goes out in sympathy for the families of the dead, and those who have landed at the hospital with critical injuries with their kith and kin at home anxiously waiting for further information about them. We are profoundly touched by the deaths that occurred in the line of a sacrosanct religious duty but in this context, we bring up the tragic end of Abdul Muquit, marketing manager of a local pharmaceuticals firm, whose mother and wife too died in the accident. The family has only a seven-year-old son and a five-year-old daughter left in Dhaka.

Although clearing of the rubbles, recovery of dead bodies and rescue operations left little to be desired by way of speed and competent handling, dissemination of information was, however, slow in coming initially when it was most anxiously awaited. Most of the Bangladeshi victims being non-ballottee Hajis news about them was not so easy to obtain. This calls for streamlining registration with the representatives from the Bangladesh mission. Now the burial issue has to be sorted out as early as possible with the Saudi authorities.

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The disaster has brought into a sharp focus the problem of hotels and guest houses taking in more guests than they can accommodate having regard to the latter's safety and security requirements. This is a matter for Saudi law to take and enforce adequate precautions against building collapse under the weight of occupancy beyond the stipulated limits. All this gives rise to a compensation issue that too must be resolved before the curtain is drawn on the unfortunate episode.