A stampede during the Hajj outside of the holy city of Mecca has claimed about 310 lives and left almost 450 pilgrims injured, Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense Service reported.

According to Reuters report, 220 ambulances and 4,000 rescue workers were deployed in the field for emergency treatment of the victims of the crush.

The crush happened in Mecca’s neighborhood of Mina, which traditionally provides temporary accommodation for hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.

The stampede happened in a street separating two pilgrim camps, Al Jazeera reported from the scene.

“The street is named Street 204. This stampede did not happen during the Stoning of the Devil ritual, which was happening today,” correspondent Basma Atassi said.

The incident happened near an exit from a monorail train station near the tent camps. The camp sector houses pilgrims from Gulf nations, who apparently are the majority among the victims.

Mina has seen a number of fatal stampedes over the years. In 1990 over 1,400 pilgrims died in a stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel leading out of Mecca towards Mina, one of the most catastrophic of such incidents.

It will be recalled that just two weeks ago over a hundred people were killed in Mecca when a construction crane fell on the crowded Grand Mosque. The worshipers had gathered in the city ahead of this year’s Hajj.