AFP: More than 500 pilgrims died due to heat during Hajj in Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia, at least 550 people have died during a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. The cause was extreme heat, with temperatures in the region exceeding 50 degrees on Tuesday.
Diplomats explained that the reason for such a large number of deaths was the huge number of unregistered pilgrims, whose arrival caused chaos in the relief camps.
Most of the dead were Egyptians
Saudi diplomats clarifiedthat at least 323 of the dead were visitors from Egypt. The country’s Foreign Ministry said Cairo is cooperating with Saudi authorities in searching for Egyptians who went missing during the Hajj.
At least 60 pilgrims from Jordan were also killed. Tehran officially reported reported the death of five Iranian pilgrims without specifying the cause, and Dakar reported that three Senegalese pilgrims had died.
Saudi authorities on Sunday reported providing assistance to more than 2,000 pilgrims affected by heat and heat stress. On that day alone, they said, there were more than 2,700 cases of “heat exhaustion.”
Last year’s Hajj also reportedly suffered a massive tragedy, with at least 240 deaths reported, most of them Indonesians.
Temperatures in the region exceeded 50 degrees
According to the Saudi National Meteorological Center, the temperature at the Grand Mosque in Mecca reached 51.8 degrees Celsius on Monday, June 17. Before this, on Sunday, the country’s Ministry of Health reported the highest temperature since the start of the Hajj and advised pilgrims to avoid exposure to the sun during the hottest hours, use umbrellas and drink plenty of water.
However, many Hajj rituals, including prayers on Mount Arafat, which took place on Saturday, involve spending many hours outdoors during the daytime.
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A study published in Saudi Arabia in May highlights how climate change is increasingly affecting pilgrimage. Temperatures in the Hajj area are said to rise by 0.4 degrees Celsius every decade.
The dead could have been unregistered pilgrims
It is stated that every year tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to complete the Hajj through illegal channels because they cannot afford the costly procedures of obtaining official visas. This puts them at risk as they do not have access to air conditioning facilities provided by the Saudi authorities along the Hajj route.
One diplomat confirmed that the death toll had risen due to the large number of unregistered Egyptian pilgrims. “They caused great chaos in the pilgrim camps, leading to the disruption of services. The pilgrims went without food, water and air conditioning for a long time and died from the heat because most people had nowhere to shelter,” said the Egyptian official overseeing the Hajj mission in the country.
Earlier in June, Saudi officials said they had expelled hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca ahead of the hajj. According to Saudi authorities, about 1.8 million pilgrims took part in the hajj this year, 1.6 million of them from abroad.
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