Dubai: The death toll in a crush of people at the annual haj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia has risen to 150, the country’s civil defence said on its Twitter account.

At least 150 pilgrims were killed on Thursday in a crush at Mina, outside the Muslim holy city of Makkah, where some two million people are performing the annual haj pilgrimage, Saudi Arabia’s al-Ekhbariya television reported.

The crush, in which at least 400 others were injured, took place on Street 204 of the camp city at Mina, a few kilometres east of Makkah, where pilgrims stay for several days during the climax of the haj.

Thursday is also Eid al-Adha, when Muslims slaughter a sheep. It has traditionally been the most dangerous day of haj because vast numbers of pilgrims attempt to perform rituals at the same time in a single location.

Street 204 is one of the two main arteries leading through the camp at Mina to Jamarat, where pilgrims ritually stone the devil by hurling pebbles at three large pillars.

Photographs published on the civil defence Twitter feed showed pilgrims lying on stretchers while emergency workers in high-visibility jackets lifted them into an ambulance.

‘Work is underway to separate large groups of people and direct pilgrims to alternative routes,’ the Saudi Civil Defence said on its Twitter account.

There have been stampedes during the hajj on at least six previous occasions, killing hundreds of pilgrims. In 1990, more than 1,400 died in a stampede inside a tunnel.

It is a religious duty for able-bodied Muslims to complete the hajj — one of the five pillars of Islam — at least once. The rituals involved in the pilgrimage are intended to cleanse the soul and promote the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood within Islam.

Pilgrims this year have been undeterred by the collapse of a construction crane in Makkah earlier this month, which killed more than 100 people and injured at least 200. An investigation has been launched into the cause of the collapse amid claims the proper safeguards are ignored in the race to complete developments surrounding the Grand Mosque. Among the projects under construction is a 10,000-bed hotel.

Last week, more than 1000 pilgrims were evacuated from a hotel in Makkah in the early hours of the morning after a fire broke out.