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The death toll from a devastating stampede during the annual Muslim hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia has risen to 717 people of various nationalities, the Saudi civil defence said.

The horrifying incident took place as some two million people perform the annual hajj pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca.

The crush, in which at least 719 others were injured, took place on Street 204 of the camp city at Mina, a few kilometres east of Mecca, where pilgrims stay for several days during the climax of the hajj.

(Image: Twitter)

More than 220 ambulances and 4,000 rescue workers have been sent to the stampede's location to help the wounded.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television channel showed a convoy of ambulances driving through the Mina camp.

The death is the highest since a crush in pedestrian tunnel in 1990.

(Image: Twitter)

Today is Eid al-Adha, when Muslims slaughter a sheep. It has traditionally been the most dangerous day of hajj 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.

(Image: @Racha93halabi)

It is estimated that around 25,000 British nationals head overseas from the UK to Saudi Arabia for the hajj, according to Abta, the travel association.

Each year pilgrims pay hundreds of thousands of pounds to go on the religious trip, with people spending between £4,000-5,000 for a typical pilgrimage.

This year's hajj takes place between September 21-6.

(Image: Twitter)

The pilgrimage, the world's largest annual gathering of people, has been the scene of deadly stampedes in the past, as well as other disasters including tent fires and riots.

However, massive infrastructure upgrades and extensive spending on crowd control technology over the past two decades had made such events far less common.

(Image: Rex)

The incident took place during the Hajj ritual of stoning of the devil, where Muslim pilgrims fling pebbles at three walls in the city of Mina just east of Mecca.

Such disasters are politically sensitive for the kingdom's ruling Al Saud dynasty, which presents itself internationally as the guardians of orthodox Islam and custodians of its holiest places in Mecca and Medina.

King Salman, like his predecessors, is officially styled "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques".

(Image: Twitter) (Image: Rex)

The sickening news comes just two weeks after 110 people were killed and after a crane crashed into the middle of Saudi Arabia's Grand Mosque in Mecca. Two of the dead were British.

Three Britons were also injured, along with more than 230 others.

One of the dead was Bolton father-of-four Qasim Akram, who had only just arrived in the country along with his parents when the tragedy occurred.

It is believed the crane had been blown over by strong winds and storms, breaking part of the roof and causing rubble to fall on those praying below.

(Image: Getty)

Last year, the kingdom reduced the numbers permitted to perform haj for safety reasons because of construction work to enlarge the Grand Mosque.

The Hajj is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, and a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by all adult Muslims who are physically and financially capable of undertaking the journey.

Hajj-related tragedies

2006: More than 360 pilgrims are killed in a stampede on a desert plain near Mecca.

2004: A crush kills 244 pilgrims and injures hundreds on the final day of the hajj ceremonies.

2001: A stampede kills 35.

1998: About 180 pilgrims are trampled to death in a panicked rush sparked after several of them fell from an overpass.

1997: At least 340 pilgrims are killed and 1,500 injured in a fire whipped up by high winds at the tent city.

1994: 270 pilgrims are killed in a stampede during the stoning ritual.

1990: The worst hajj-related tragedy claims the lives of 1,426 pilgrims in a stampede in an overcrowded pedestrian tunnel.