The number of Bangladeshi pilgrims who died in last month's stampede during Hajj has risen to 79.

Bangladesh Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Golam Moshi confirmed the death toll.

At least 90 other Bangladeshi hajis have been missing since the September 24 incident at Mina of Saudi Arabia, he told The Daily Star last night.

Among 1.6 lakh Bangladeshis who went to perform Hajj this year, 32,000 returned home until yesterday morning, said Mohammad Ibrahim Bahar, president of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh. Saudi's official figures of 769 killed and 934 injured in the stampede remain accurate, said Saudi officials, though an investigation is on to find out the reasons behind the stampede.

Two weeks before the Mina incident, 107 people died as a construction crane collapsed into the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

Many countries that sent pilgrims to this year's Hajj estimated the number of deaths in stampede alone at more than 1,000.

News agency Associated Press yesterday claimed that at least 1,453 people died in the September 24 disaster in Mina. This new tally shows that the last month's Mina stampede incident was the deadliest event to ever strike the annual pilgrimage.

The AP count is 684 higher than Saudi Arabia's official tally of 769 killed and 934 injured in the stampede

The AP figure comes from statements and officials' comments from 19 of the over 180 countries that sent citizens to the five-day annual pilgrimage

Saudi authorities have not updated their casualty toll since September 26, two days after the disaster, reports AP.

The previous deadliest-ever incident happened in 1990, when a stampede killed 1,426 people.