T

he Indonesian Haj Committee (PPIH) in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday discovered another 17 bodies of Indonesian pilgrims in various hospitals in the kingdom, bringing the Indonesian death toll from a deadly stampede in Mina on Sept. 24 to 120.

The head of the Religious Affairs Ministry'€™s Saudi Arabian office, Arsyad Hidayat, confirmed the latest increase of the death toll, adding that there were still eight Indonesian pilgrims who had yet to return to their respective groups since the tragedy broke out during a stone-throwing ritual in Mina.

'€œA total 120 bodies have been identified as of today,'€ Arsyad said in a statement on Wednesday.

Arsyad added that of the 154 Indonesian pilgrims in Mina at the time of the incident, 115 were found dead, five were still receiving medical treatment at various hospitals in Saudi Arabia and 26 people who had been found alive had returned to their respective groups.

In addition to the 115 pilgrims who had travelled from Indonesia, the PPIH found another five Indonesian nationals who lived in Saudi Arabia had died during the Mina stampede.

The stampede '€” the worst accident to strike the annual haj in 25 years '€” killed 717 pilgrims and injured 863 others.

The disaster occurred at a crossroads on Street 204 as thousands of pilgrims were on their way to perform the compulsory jumrah stone-throwing ritual in Mina.

It was the worst incident to befall the pilgrimage since July 1990, when 1,426 pilgrims were crushed to death in a tunnel, also near Mecca.