Pilgrims begin flocking to Mena at haj ritual start

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Over two million Muslims began streaming out of Mecca on Sunday, the first day of a haj pilgrimage already marred by the deaths of 76 people in the collapse of a pilgrim hostel. 

Moving in cars, vans and on foot, a mass of white-robed pilgrims poured into a tented city at the valley of Mena at the start of the five-day ritual, a duty for every able-bodied Muslim at least once in their lifetime.