We were hired by the Iranians

Memoirs of Javad Sheikhzadeh, Inspector of the Medical Board of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization

Selected by: Faezeh Sasanikhah
Translated by: Fazel Shirzad

2022-7-12

About the [Mina] stampede, some people in official and unofficial forums said that chemical gas was fired in the area, which is the reason for the skin of the victims being torn off and the injured being suffocated. I want to know where those who said these words were on the day of the stampede. When the bodies were lying on top of each other, the heat from the sun's rays absorbed the dark skin of the Africans - who was lying on top of the bodies - and eventually caused the skin to dry and crack. While moving the wounded, the first thing that came to my mind was that Africans have a layer of white skin under their black skin. After some time, the same white parts started to bleed and that's how the blood entered the water that was flowing under the corpses. Sometime later, this happened to white people as well. That was the reason; sun absorption by dead skin. We were on stage from morning to night and we stayed safe!

      Some analyzes are of the same kind. I think this stampede and all these casualties were all due to recklessness. Mismanagement! I don't know why they closed the end of 204th street. Some say they had a special guest and they closed the street for a few minutes for his car to pass. The officers close the road, at the same time the Africans, who had to go back to their tents from the path behind Jamrat, return from the same path they went. The crowd gathers here at entrance 204. The pressure of the crowd from both sides was high and what should not have happened.

        Some consider the way the pilgrims are leaving suspicious. That they have fallen to the ground like autumn leaves. Imagine the type of Hajj operation. A pilgrim who spent the night and worshiped in Mashaar until morning. He got up in the morning and walked three kilometers from Mashaar to his tent in Mena. He left his bag in the tent. After having breakfast, he set off again towards Jamrat. You can go this way yourself, and see what happens to you; sugar drop, pressure drop, heat, and air humidity... there is no need for chemical gas.

         That day, we picked up anyone who had vital signs on the street floor and carried them to the Saudi stretchers to take them to the hospital. We would take his carotid pulse, and put our hand in front of his nose. Many of the injured had fled and gone to the nearby tents. The Turkmen women had fled to the tents and were trapped there. We went to one of the tents with the cameraman of the expedition. We found one of the veterans who had both legs amputated. I said to him, "Let me hug you so that I can take you to the door. From there, go to your tent with a stretcher." I thought that because he doesn't have two legs, he weighs little, and I could not even move it. Both his weight was really heavy and I was no longer strong.

         We were busy with pilgrims who climbed the fences on the side of the road and threw themselves on the roof of the tents. They had stayed there under the sun for three or four hours and became lethargic. At the same time, the police were trying to unwrap the corpses. Under the armpits of some corpses, they put a red hose and some people dragged them. It didn't work! They released him. It was impossible to separate them. In the first hour after death, the muscles contract due to the hemolysis of the blood, just like wood. Eighteen to twenty-four hours later, the muscles begin to relax and the body begins to break down. This stagnation made it impossible to separate the bodies until the evening or even at night.

       I was there until about six in the evening. I went back to the tent and took a shower. Maybe no one will tell you this, it's a bitter truth, but I believe that the crane fall stampede was a kind of opportunity for our collection. Because we had experienced the path of searching for bodies there. We experienced the same stampede on a smaller scale and we knew all the paths that we had to follow in Saudi Arabia to pursue this work. That night, we knew where these bodies would go after Mena. We were relieved that they were going to Maisem Altar. We knew that we would not have access to these bodies for the next 24 hours. In their own words, they should have been assumed. That is, they were identified, separated, and sampled. After the crane accident, we searched door to door for bodies for 24 hours. The police said he was not there. Their medical examiner said that he is not there. That one introduced another place. We turned until we reached Masim Altar. No one would give us a correct answer, for example, where the bodies of such and such are located. Everyone said: "It's not here." In the crane stampede, we were the first group to enter the morgue. It was there that we met Dr. Mazen, Dr. Ali, and the staff of forensic doctors. Many of our issues there formed the basis of our work in the Mena stampede.

       This stampede was unique. Where do you see this amount of casualties on the street floor? This can only happen in natural events. In floods and earthquakes, for example. In such circumstances, from a medical point of view, one should not think about the dead anymore. I didn't think about people being dead that day. I didn't think they died. This was not a priority for me. I thought about where and how can I help a survivor. I didn't think about the corpses that were piled on top of each other. I shouldn't have thought. We should not have lost ourselves. I had to try, to prioritize how and whom I should help.

       We were warm those days and we did not understand what happened to us. Later, when we returned, the complications became clear. For the next four or five months, when I came to work in the morning and at home in the evening until I was awake, I was looking for Mena's photos on the websites. Even on Arabic sites. This was my job for four or five months. Right now, I have an archive of photos of this stampede that have been published in the media.

     It is an honor for me to be in this stampede. It is an honor to be in an event that is unique throughout history and to be able to save a person. The stampede was an unhappy one. But I was able to play a positive role in this bad stampede.

These last sentences seemed to be addressed to himself for his comfort.[1]