During Saudi Arabia’s annual Hajj pilgrimage, one of the most important events in the Muslim calendar, at least 450 people died in the blazing sun while praying at holy sites around the holy city of Mecca .
Amid maximum temperatures which ranged between 108 Fahrenheit and 120, according to preliminary data, and crowds of people, many of whom fainted and needed medical attention. Pilgrims, some of whom have set aside their entire lives for the hajj, spend entire days walking and sleeping in tents on their journey to Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims. The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims who are physically and financially capable are obliged to embark on the pilgrimage.
Indonesia has reported the most deaths so far, 199, and India, 98. The countries have said at this stage they cannot be sure whether heat is the cause of all the deaths , but relatives of the missing and dead and tour operators said the heat was at least a contributing factor.
The death toll is expected to rise because neither Saudi Arabia nor Egypt, where many pilgrims come from, have released the toll of their citizens.
Egypt is alarmed enough that it has set up crisis centers to receive distress calls and coordinate the government’s response as families brace for a high death toll, with many people missing.
This year, more than 1.8 million Muslims have visited Mecca, including 1.6 million from outside Saudi Arabia. according to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics.
Many complained about the lack of cooling stations or water for all the pilgrims, and according to early reports, part of the problem was that many people did not officially register for the pilgrimage, perhaps to avoid the high costs of hajj package tours.
Most pilgrims are elderly people who have spent years saving to get to the holy city. In the days leading up to and during the holy period of Eid al-Adha, pilgrims visit several holy sites, including circumambulating the Kaaba and praying at Mount Arafat.
On a hajj Facebook group with more than 900,000 members, Egyptians posted appeals for their missing loved ones. In one of them, a woman left a message for her mother: “Mom, it’s me Rabab. I will wait for you in front of King Khaled Bridge… Please see this post. I’m dying for you. You are the light of my eyes.
Other countries reporting death tolls include Jordan, Tunisia and Pakistan.
Jordan’s Foreign Ministry said 75 pilgrims had died “due to the intense heat wave.”
Tunisian Minister of Religious Affairs Ibrahim Chaibi said 49 Tunisians had died. He added that this figure is expected to increase as the number of pilgrims traveling on tourist visas becomes clearer, according to the official Tunisian news agency.
An Egyptian tour operator said that due to the increase in prices for hajj package tours, as well as the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, many pilgrims have opted for tourist visas, which has burdened the facilities provided. in place in Mecca and surrounding holy places.
The man, who spoke from Mecca, described the harsh conditions faced by unregistered pilgrims. Speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons, he said unregistered pilgrims did not have tents and were exposed to extreme heat. He said there were too few buses, so many pilgrims traveled distances of more than 12 miles.
Hind Hassan, from Egypt, said his aunt Safa Tawab died during the hajj and the travel agency that organized her trip hid the news until the family found her name on a list of people deceased published online.
A friend who accompanied Ms. Tawab, 55, told the family that the pilgrimage was like “walking on the path to death because of the heat and lack of water,” Ms. Hassan said.
Mahmoud Qassem, a member of the Egyptian Parliament, blamed questionable tour operators for “exposing Egyptian pilgrims to deception and fraud by tourism companies”, calling for a police investigation.
Since 2019, Islamic Relief, a global humanitarian agency based in London, has been warning about the impact of climate change on the hajj.
“If global emissions continue in a business-as-usual scenario, temperatures in Mecca will rise to levels the human body cannot withstand,” Shahin Ashraf, the organization’s global advocacy manager, said in a sent statement. Friday by email.
In Pakistan, which lost at least 35 people, according to official figures, mourners gathered to honor their dead. Dozens of people in Chaman, a town in Balochistan province on the Pakistan-Afghan border, offered their condolences outside the house of Abdul Bari Kakar. Mr. Kakar, 49, ran a gas cylinder store and had saved for months to make what was his third trip, his relatives said.
He chose to go “pray for his grandfather who died years ago,” said his son, Sardar Wali.
“We are saddened by his death,” he said, “but he was fortunate to die in the Holy Land. »
Hager Elhakeem contributed reporting from Luxor, Egypt, Christine Goldbaum and Zia ur-Rehman contributed from Pakistan, Muktita Suhartono from Indonesia and Judson Jones reported from Atlanta.
