'Limited Hajj': A lookback at how the pilgrimage has been disrupted before coronavirus

Saudi Arabia announced on Monday that it will celebrate a "very limited" Hajj this year due to the coronavirus pandemic with the participation of only pilgrims of different nationalities already in the Kingdom.

However, this is not the first time that the annual pilgrimage that draws 2.5 million Muslims every year has been interrupted. The Hajj is believed to have been entirely canceled in 1798 when Napoleon's invasion of the region made it unsafe for pilgrims to travel to Makkah.

Here is a timeline of more recent incidents that have disrupted or overshadowed Hajj:

2015
September 24: A stampede during the "stoning of the devil" ritual in Mina, near Makkah, kills more than 2,300 worshipers in Hajj's worst disaster.

That comes after more than 100 people die and hundreds are injured, including many foreigners when stormy weather knocks down a crane at the Makkah Grand Mosque less than two weeks before the pilgrimage.

2006
January 12: 364 pilgrims are killed in a stampede during the Mina stoning ritual, in which Hajj participants throw stones at three headstones to symbolize their rejection of Satan.

It follows a hotel collapse a week earlier in the city center that killed 76 people.

2005
January 22: Three pilgrims are crushed to death in a stampede at the stoning ceremony.

2004
February 1: 251 people killed in a stampede at the stoning ceremony.

2003
February 11: 14 faithful, including six women, die on the first day of the stoning ritual.

2001
March 5: 35 pilgrims, including 23 women, die in the ritual in Mina.

1998
April 9: More than 118 people killed and 180 wounded in a stampede in Mina.

1997
April 15: A fire caused by a gas stove devastates a camp that houses pilgrims in Mina, killing 343 and injuring some 1,500.

nineteen ninety-five
May 7: Three people die and 99 are injured in a fire in the Mina camp.

1994
May 24: 270 people died in a stampede during the stoning of Mina, and authorities blame "record numbers" of pilgrims.

1990
July 2: A tunnel ventilation system fails, triggering a huge stampede that kills 1,426 pilgrims, primarily from Asia.

1989
July 10: A twin attack outside the Grand Mosque kills one and injures 16. Sixteen Kuwaitis are found guilty and executed weeks later.

1987
July 31: Saudi security forces suppress an unauthorized protest by Iranian pilgrims. More than 400 people, including 275 Iranians, are killed, according to an official toll.

1979
November 20: Hundreds of armed men who oppose the Saudi government entrench themselves inside the Grand Mosque, taking dozens of pilgrims hostage. The official figure for the assault and subsequent fighting is 153 dead and 560 wounded.

1975
December: A large fire started by a gas canister exploding in a pilgrim camp near Makkah kills 200 people.