Over a thousand people have died this year due to the extreme heat (over 49 degrees centigrade, according to local sources cited by CNN), which affected the almost two million pilgrims who took part in the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage of the faithful of Islam towards Mecca, a journey that is required of every Muslim at least once in their life.
According to two Cairo officials, more than half of the victims, around 600 pilgrims, came from Egypt, most of whom were reported to the emergency complex in the Al-Muaisem neighborhood of Mecca: Cairo is apparently trying to identify them as they may not have been Register officially before leaving. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have not yet released an official death toll. In fact, the unknown would be precisely the share of pilgrims not officially registered with the authorities of their country before leaving to carry out what represents one of the seven pillars of Islam. In any case, according to the authorities of each country, at least 14 Malaysian citizens, 165 Indonesians, 75 Jordanians, 35 Pakistanis, 49 Tunisians, 11 Iranians and 98 Indians died. Another 27 Jordanians are hospitalized and about 14 are still missing, the Foreign Ministry in Amman said.
An Egyptian crisis unit tasked with investigating the situation said it had revoked the licenses of 16 tour companies and referred them to the public prosecutor, accusing them of being responsible for deaths it said occurred mainly among pilgrims not registered in the system official.
Meanwhile, the Tap news agency relaunches a statement from the Tunisian presidency. It says Tunisian President Kais Saied removed Minister of Religious Affairs Ibrahim Chaibi after 49 Tunisian pilgrims died during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia due to excessively high temperatures. Among the victims were 44 unregistered pilgrims who made the pilgrimage on tourist visas, Chaibi explained, admitting that there may have been negligence regarding the supervision of the pilgrims.
On the last day of the Hajj, which represents one of the five pillars of Islam, temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius in the Saudi city of Mecca and other holy sites.
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