Saudi Arabia reported yesterday that more than 1,300 people died this year during the hajj, due to extreme heat that struck the nearly two million who participated in the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca. He also reported that most of the deceased did not have official permits.
“Unfortunately, the number of deaths reached 1,301, of which 83 percent were not authorized to perform the hajj and had walked long distances in direct sunlight, without adequate shelter or comfort,” the official Saudi Press Agency reported. Temperatures in Mecca this year reached 51.8 degrees Celsius.
Most of the deceased were Egyptians. Medical and security sources reported that the Egyptian death toll had risen to 658. A total of 236 Indonesians diedaccording to government data provided to the British agency Reuterswhile the Foreign Affairs agency of India said 98 of its citizens died during the hajj.
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United States, Tunisia, Pakistan, Jordan, Iran, Sudan and Senegal reported other deaths, bringing the total number of victims this year to at least 1,301 people, according to the website BBC.
On Friday, a senior Saudi official gave the AFP a partial balance of 577 deaths in the two most intense days of the hajj: June 15, when the pilgrims They gathered to pray for hours under the scorching sun on Mount Arafat, and on June 16, when they participated in the ritual of the “stoning of the devil” in Mina.
The official also defended Riyadh’s response, saying: “The State did not failbut there was an error in judgment on the part of the people who did not appreciate the risks.” Among the officially registered pilgrims, 31 deaths from chronic illness were confirmed. “Among the deceased were several elderly and chronically ill“explained the Saudi Minister of Health, Fahd Al-Jajel.
He also detailed that the health system “provided more than 465,000 specialized treatment services“The health system addressed numerous cases of thermal stress this year, and some people are still under treatment,” the Saudi Press Agency reported.
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Permits and the case of Egypt
Hajj permits are allocated to countries through a quota system and are distributed to individuals through a lottery. Even for those who can obtain them, High costs prompt many to attempt hajj without a permitalthough they risk arrest and deportation if caught.
Saudi authorities said before the hajj that they had expelled hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca. Despite this operation, the AFP confirmed that around 400,000 unregistered pilgrims participated and that “almost all of them were of the same nationality”, in apparent reference to Egypt.
A egyptian crisis unitled by Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly, in charge of investigating the situation, said on Saturday that suspended the licenses of 16 tourism companies and referred them to the prosecutor’s office, accusing them of being responsible for deaths that occurred mainly among pilgrims not registered in the official system.
He denounced that the increase in the number of deaths of unregistered Egyptian pilgrims was due to some companies “they organized the Hajj programs using a personal visit visawhich prevents its holders from entering Mecca” through official channels. In many cases, pilgrims did not have access to services intended to make the experience more bearable, including air-conditioned tents.
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The pilgrimage to Mecca will become increasingly difficult
The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam that every Muslim with resources must perform at least once in their life. Saudi officials have reported that 1.8 million pilgrims participated this year, a figure similar to last yearand that 1.6 million came from abroad.
Over the past few years, primarily outdoor rituals have dwindled during the sweltering Saudi summer. The hajj calendar advances about 11 days each year on the Gregorian calendar, meaning that next year it will take place at the beginning of Junepotentially in cooler conditions.
Despite that, a 2019 study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters explained that, due to climate change, Heat stress for hajj pilgrims will exceed the “extreme danger threshold” from 2047 to 2052 and from 2079 to 2086“with greater frequency and intensity as the century progresses.”
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