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MECCA, Saudi Arabia, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Some 3 million Muslims began the Hajj pilgrimage from Mecca to the tent city of Mina on Thursday in the annual 5-day event required of Muslims worldwide.
The faithful are following the path of the first Hajj, performed by the Prophet Mohammed some 1,400 years ago.
The Hajj is mandatory for both Sunni and Shiite Muslims who are physically and financially able to make the trip to Mecca.
Because of the massive number of people and large numbers of deaths caused by crushing in recent years, Saudi officials have deployed 50,000 security personnel this year, a BBC correspondent reported.
However, by the first day, The Tide newspaper of Nigeria reported 12 Nigerians had died at the Hajj but did not report how.
Last January, 345 pilgrims died in a crush during the stone-throwing ritual of the pilgrimage and a stampede in 2004 killed 251 pilgrims.
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