The Saudi aircraft landed at Mehrabad Airport Sunday morning after legal procedures was carried out between Tehran and Riyadh. The first batch of the bodies of the killed Iranian Hajj pilgrims had already arrived in Tehran on Saturday morning.
The bodies of the remaining victims, some of them still unidentified, are kept in cold storage facilities in Mecca. The bodies are set to be identified in Iran.
An official repatriation ceremony was held on Saturday morning at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and a number of high-ranking officials attending the service. All over the country, honorable funeral ceremonies are held for the victims today.
The tragedy occurred on September 24 after two large masses of pilgrims fused together in Mina region near Mecca due to blockade on two streets Saudi security forces made.
Saudi Arabia claims nearly 790 people were killed in the calamity, but officials with Iran’s Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization say about 4,700 people, including 465 Iranians, lost their lives in the tragedy.
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