Hajj 2024 death toll has exceeded 1,000, more than half of them unregistered pilgrims who worshiped in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia, a report by AFP said.
This year, the Hajj pilgrimage began on June 14. As per the report, the new deaths deported on Thursday (June 20) included 58 from Egypt.
As per an Arab diplomat, who provided a breakdown showing that of 658 total dead from Egypt, 630 were unregistered.
Around 10 countries have reported 1,081 deaths during the annual pilgrimage this year.
AFP said the death figures at Hajj pilgrimage 2024 have come via official statements or from diplomats working on their countries’ responses.
The report also quoted a Saudi Arabia diplomat as saying that, 68 Indians have died during Hajj in Mecca owing to soaring temperatures.
“We have confirmed around 68 dead. Some are because of natural causes and we had many old-age pilgrims. And some are due to the weather conditions, that’s what we assume," the Saudi diplomat said.
The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam which all Muslims with the means must complete at least once. The timing of the pilgrimage is determined by the lunar Islamic calendar and this year too it fell during the oven-like Saudi summer.
The temperature at the Grand Mosque of Mecca was recorded a maximum of 51.8 degree Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit) earlier this week.
According to a Saudi study published last month, temperatures in the area are rising 0.4 degrees Celsius each decade.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform the hajj each year through irregular channels as they cannot afford the often costly official permits.
Earlier this month, Saudi authorities reported clearing hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca, but it appears many still participated in the main rites which began last Friday.
This group was more prone to the heat because as without the official permits, they could not access air-conditioned spaces provided by Saudi authorities for the 1.8 million authorised pilgrims to cool down after hours of walking and praying outside.
“People were tired after being chased by security forces before Arafat day. They were exhausted,” AFP quoted an Arab diplomat as saying on Thursday. The person was referring to Saturday’s day-long outdoor prayers that marked the hajj’s climax.
The diplomat further said the main cause of death among Egyptian pilgrims was the heat, which triggered complications related to high blood pressure and other issues.
In addition to Egypt and India, fatalities have also been confirmed by Malaysia, Pakistan, Jordan, Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, though in many cases authorities have not specified the cause.
Friends and family members have been searching for pilgrims who are still missing. On Wednesday they scoured hospitals and pleaded online for news, fearing the worst during the scorching temperatures.
Saudi Arabia has not provided information on fatalities, though it reported more than 2,700 cases of “heat exhaustion” on Sunday alone.
