More than 340 Muslim pilgrims were killed and 289 more injured in a stampede to throw pebbles at the symbols of Satan in Minna during the annual Haj pilgrimage.

Malaysian Haj delegation chief Dr Azmi Ahmad confirmed that no Malaysians were involved in yesterday's incident.

"There were reports that some of those killed and injured were from Southeast Asia but we are not sure which country they came from," he was quoted as saying by Bernama .

According to the report, Saudi authorities were still retrieving victims at the scene of the stampede.

Malaysians had earlier been told to perform the ritual only after 6pm (11pm Malaysian time) while the incident occurred in the afternoon after Zohor prayers.

However, Azmi said about five to 10 Malaysians were reported to have defied the order and went ahead to perform the ritual after the Zohor prayers.

The Saudi government had promised to issue the list of names of the dead and injured soon after the rescue operation ended, he added.

Some 26,000 Malaysian pilgrims are performing their haj this year.

Last week, four Malaysians were among 76 people killed when a hotel collapsed in Mecca.

Perform ritual at dawn

Meanwhile, Azmi said following the stampede, Malaysian pilgrims had been told to perform the stoning ritual at dawn when the crowd would be smaller.

He said those killed and injured in the stampede had been taken to three hospitals - the Mina, Muissin and King Faisal hospitals.

The Malaysian medical team led by Tabung Haji medical director Dr Shuhaimi Ismail had been instructed to go to the hospitals to check if any Malaysians were among the victims, he added.

The Al-Arabia television station reported the incident occurred on the top level of one of the three places for the stoning ritual.

In 2004, about 250 hajj pilgrims were crushed to death in a similar fashion during the stoning ritual.

Tabung Haji employee Nazari Sharif said he was on the lower floor of the several storey jamrat when the incident happened.

He only knew something bad had happened when several ambulances came and hundreds of soldiers began deploying in the area.

"Then I saw many bodies being taken and placed in four containers that were earlier used to transport bottled mineral water.

"The injured were carried into the ambulances while several helicopters hovered overhead," he said.

Nazari said over 200 bodies were taken to the containers. The Al-Arabiya station said 345 people were killed and the number was expected to increase.

Hotlines opened

In a related development,Tabung Haji's operations room in Kelana Jaya has opened two special hotlines to facilitate the public in getting the latest information on their family members.

Both hotlines are 03-78741033 and 03-78744169.

A spokesperson of the operations room said Tabung Haji received many calls since last night from relatives of Malaysian pilgrims now in the holy city of Mecca, who wanted to know the latest status of their family members.

He said to date, no Malaysians were reportedly involved in the incident.