The wRap Indonesia: Hajj stampede, Bali suitcase murder

JAKARTA, Indonesia – From a tragic stampede at the Hajj to a new arrest related to the Bali suitcase murder case, here’s the top news to start your day.

1. Hajj stampede

Another tragedy has struck the Hajj pilgrimage, after a stampede kills at least 717 people and injures at least 800, as of Thursday evening, Jakarta time.

Interior Ministry spokesman Brigadier General Mansour al-Turki said, “We have a stampede accident in Mina and civil defense is dealing with it.” The stampede happened during a ritual called “stoning of the devil,” on the third day of the pilgrimage. The tragedy happened in a small street named Street 204. Read more.

2. Indonesian stampede victims

Over 700 are dead and hundreds more injured after a stampede at the Hajj pilgrimage including 4 Indonesian victims.

Three are dead while another one is in critical condition as of Thursday evening, Jakarta time. The Hajj is the largest single gathering of people in the world, with 2 to 3 million people in attendance. Read more.

3. Hazardous haze levels

Singapore’s air quality worsened further reaching “hazardous” levels late Thursday, September 24 as thick smog from forest fires on Indonesia’s neighboring island of Sumatra choked the city-state.

Thick grey smoke blown in by southerly winds smothered the island, shrouding the skyline and creeping into homes, with many residents avoiding going outdoors. “The hazy conditions in Singapore have further deteriorated since last night, as denser haze from Sumatra has been blown in by the prevailing southerly winds,” the National Environment Agency said in an advisory. Read more.

4. Indonesia earthquake

A powerful 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck the eastern Indonesian region of Papua on Thursday evening, US seismologists said, but no tsunami warning was issued. 

The undersea quake hit at a depth of 24 kilometres (14 miles) at about 1:00 am (1600 GMT), 30 kilometres from Sorong, in West Papua province, the US Geological Survey said. The USGS initially put the quake’s magnitude at 6.9 but then revised it down. Read more.

5. Bali suitcase murder

Police arrested a Chicago man in connection with an alleged murder plot that resulted in a dead body found stuffed in a suitcase in a taxi outside a Bali resort.

Robert Ryan Justin Bibbs was charged by the US Department of Justice with advising his cousin Tommy Schaefer and his cousin’s girlfriend Heather Mack on how to go about killing Mack’s mother, Sheila Von Wiese, during an Indonesian vacation in August 2014. Von Wiese’s body was later found bludgeoned to death in a suitcase. Read more. – Rappler.com