REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, MECCA -- Indonesia's government was shocked by the recent incident in Mina, Saudi Arabia, that has claimed hundreds of lives, including those of Indonesian citizens, Religious Affairs Minister, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin said on Saturday.

"We, as a government, were shocked by the incident, but do not want to blame anyone in this case," he said.

Lukman said the incident could be treated as a lesson for learning and evaluation by the government or the Ministry of Religious Affairs, along with the Hajj pilgrimage committee, with regards to submitting proposals to the Saudi government on how it can prevent such an incident from recurring in the future.

"Officially, we would not like to be dragged into complaining, but would want to draw a lesson from it," he stated.

"This is an expensive lesson and so it must be assimilated for future purposes," he added.

Moreover, Indonesia plans to get an additional quota of 20,000 pilgrims next year, along with the current quota of around 200,000.

"This is not a simple matter. Certainly, we are happy with the additional quota being granted as more people would be able to make the pilgrimage, but on the other hand it also poses a challenge in itself. It would be a challenge to manage the massive number of pilgrims, even if the arrangements are orderly and smooth," he noted.

Hundreds of pilgrims had died following a stampede at the stoning ritual site in Mina on Thursday morning.

So far, the deaths of three Indonesian pilgrims have been confirmed, among the deaths, while six are being treated in hospitals and 225 others are yet to be accounted for. The last group was mostly from Flight Group 61, which had embarked for the pilgrimage rom Jakarta-Bekasi.

Minister Lukman said on Friday that he had met with a number of pilgrims from the group that survived the incident.

He said the committee would check hospitals to find if there were any other possible Indonesian pilgrims being treated there.

"As the chief of the pilgrimage, I offer my apology (over the incident)," he said.

Lukman said that those who had died in the incident had died well because they did so while conducting hajj. "According to me, this is more than jihad. Let them go. They did it in good form." he stated.

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