Tehran, Oct 12, IRNA � Foreign Ministry Deputy for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir Abdollahian said the ministry is setting up a committee to follow up the fate of the Iranian pilgrims having gone missing in Mina stampede.

Talking to IRNA on Monday, he said the missing Iranians include the former Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Ghazanfar Roknabadi as well.

He said the committee which also includes representatives of other relevant organizations will continue its task until the fates of all missing Iranian pilgrims are determined.

According to the official, the committee is to search for 65 missing Iranian pilgrims among whom two are foreign ministry staff members.

On Sunday, Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Abbas Araqchi said Iran is studying the tragic stampede incident in Saudi Arabia in which thousands of Hajj pilgrims including hundreds of Iranians were killed and wounded.

'The legal team of the Foreign Ministry as well as President Office's Legal Deputy Office, representatives of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization and related bodies are carrying out the investigation,' he said.

Head of the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization, Saeed Ohadi too said on Sunday that so far 399 Iranian Hajj victims' bodies have been transported back to Iran.

He said another two bodies of missing pilgrims have been recovered.

Ohadi told IRNA that 65 others are still missing.

He added that search and recovery operations are still underway in two mortuaries of Jeddah and Mecca.

He went on to say that arrangements are underway to ensure transfer of 87 victims by tomorrow.

The disaster occurred on September 24 when according to reports two large groups of pilgrims arrived together at a crossroads in Mina, a few kilometers east of Mecca, on their way to perform the 'stoning of the devil' ritual at Jamarat. A deadly stampede followed soon afterwards.

The event served to raise the name of Hajj victims in the world and initiated a wave of condemnation of the incompetence and mismanagement of the Saudi officials in administrating Muslims' largest annual ritual.

Some 464 Iranian pilgrims have been confirmed dead and 65 are missing, but the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organizations considers the later among the dead.

By IRNA