Over two million Muslims arrived at the tented city of Mena this week, the first day of a Hadj pilgrimage marred by the deaths of 76 people in the collapse of a pilgrim hostel. Moving in cars, vans and on foot, a mass of white-robed pilgrims poured into the valley from the holy city of Mecca at the start of the five-day ritual, a duty for every able-bodied Muslim at least once in their lifetime.

Saudi Arabia has deployed a record 60,000 security men to try to avoid deadly stampedes or attacks by Islamist militants fighting the US-allied Saudi royals. Officials have also taken measures to prevent the spread of bird flu. Many pilgrims prayed for the souls of those who died in the hostel collapse and some said they considered the victims to have died as martyrs.

Saudi authorities were taken by surprise when the pilgrim hostel which was only 30 years old collapsed during the midday bustle of a narrow market street in Mecca on Thursday, eliciting a flurry of rare criticism in the Saudi media. The tragedy was embarrassing for the absolute monarchy, whose legitimacy in the eyes of many Muslims rests on its ability to host some 2.5 million haj pilgrims every year. The Saudi government has promised to find out who or what was to blame for the incident. King Abdullah has said the survivors will finish their haj at the state’s expense.

The pilgrimage has been marred by other tragedies in recent years. Some 250 pilgrims died in a stampede in 2004 during the stoning of stone pillars that represent the devil. The government has reorganised access to the site, where pilgrims will stay for three days from Tuesday, and promised to remove pilgrim squatters who often camp there. This year, health experts have said the huge crowds could create the conditions in which a pandemic strain of bird flu may emerge. But that did not seem to concern many pilgrims. “This has been a life goal for me. I thank God that I could do haj finally, and I was not going to let bird flu or anything else stop me from coming,” said Farouk Ibrahim, 56, from Egypt.

“This is my first haj. I took the influenza vaccination but in the end I fear God and not the bird flu,” said Umm Atef, a 51-year-old Egyptian housewife. Saudi Arabia says it has spent nearly $7 million on Tamiflu, a drug that can reduce the severity of the current strain of bird flu if taken within days of symptoms appearing. Many pilgrims come from Asian countries, where the deadly H5N1 form of bird flu has killed more than 70 people since 2003.

<B>Heba KANDIL</B>