A large crowd can turn deadly very quickly.

Too many people are squeezed into a space that is too small for them. Then a person tries to walk in the wrong direction. Or an exit is blocked off. The movement of people changes or stops. That is when danger strikes.

Experts say this explains the deaths of more than 700 Muslims outside Mecca September 24 during this year’s hajj. More than 800 others were hurt.

Officials in Saudi Arabia said two large groups of people came together on a street. The groups were going in different directions. People were crushed to death in the crowd.

It is the worst hajj tragedy in 25 years.

Each year up to 3 million Muslims come to Mecca from around the world for the hajj. They are called pilgrims. A pilgrim is a person who travels to a place for religious reasons.

The hajj is a major part of Islam. Most Muslims are required to take part at least once in their lives.

In Mecca, they circle Islam’s holiest place. It is called the Kaaba. It is shaped like a very large cube. Muslims see it as the “House of God.” They face it as they pray, no matter where they are in the world. For five days, the pilgrims also hold a series of rites that are important in Islam. It attracts people of different origins and languages.

Muslims see the hajj as a chance to wipe away past sins and start fresh.

But the hajj is also a challenge for Saudi Arabia.

The nation has spent billions of dollars to make the hajj safer. They have built structures and streets. The last serious loss of life was nine years ago.

The street where the deadly event took place is 36 feet wide. It was lined with fences. Tents stood behind them. Pilgrims were walking in one direction to a religious site.

Mahfouz el-Taweel, of Egypt, was part of the crowd. He said they were packed shoulder to shoulder. Then they hit another group of people coming the other way.

People in the back of the crowd did not know this. They pushed forward. Some in front of them were crushed. Others fell and were run over by the crowd.

If they had barred people from coming the other way, this would not have happened,” he said.

Keith Still is from Manchester Metropolitan University in England. He studies the science of crowds. He said crowds are safer when officials do a “hold and release.” That means some people are stopped from moving for a short period of time. Then they are allowed to go in small groups.

That creates space,” Still said. If there is no space, there is too much pressure on bodies and people can’t breathe.

El-Taweel said Saudi Arabia needs to solve the problem.

I’m coming to perform the hajj, not to die,” he said.

News for You, October 14, 2015

NASA Experts May Have Found Proof of Liquid Water on Mars

In 2008, experts proved there was frozen water on Mars. Now they have pictures that suggest there is liquid water, at least in the summer. That raises the chance that live might exist on Mars.

They don’t know for sure. But there is a NASA spacecraft circling Mars. It took pictures that offer strong proof.

The pictures show dark, thin streaks, or marks, on the planet. The dark streaks seem to appear and grow during the warmest months on Mars. They are harder to see during the rest of the year.

The streaks appear on the sides of mountains. Experts believe liquid water is running down the slopes. They think it is wetting the dirt, turning it dark.

5. “Mars is not the dry…planet that we thought of in the past,” said Jim Green. He works for NASA.

The streaks are about 12 to 15 feet wide. They are at least 300 feet long.

Alfred McEwen studies the picutres taken by NASA’s Mars Orbiter. That is the spacecraft circling the planet. McEwen believes there is enough water to fill many large swimming pools. But it is spread out over a very wide area.

The water is most likely salty. Salty water doesn’t freeze as easily. Salt also melts ice.

Mars is very cold, even in summer. The streaks are in places where the temperatures rose above minus-10 degrees Fahrenheit.

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