Hajj Pilgrims’ Death Toll Exceeds 1000 Amid Heatwave in Saudi Arabia

Religion

Hajj Pilgrims’ Death Toll Exceeds 1000 Amid Heatwave in Saudi Arabia

Reported by Ayooluwa Afolabi

The death toll from this year’s hajj has exceeded 1,000, an AFP tally showed on Thursday, with unregistered pilgrims making up more than half of those who perished amid intense heat in Saudi Arabia.

The new deaths reported Thursday included 58 from Egypt, according to an Arab diplomat who provided a breakdown showing that of 658 total dead from that country, 630 were unregistered.

All told around 10 countries have reported 1,081 deaths during the annual pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam which all Muslims with the means must complete at least once, The hajj, whose timing is determined by the lunar Islamic calendar, fell again this year during the oven-like Saudi summer.

The figures have come via official statements or from diplomats working on their countries’ responses.

The National Meteorological Centre reported a high of 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit) earlier this week at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.

According to a Saudi study published last month, temperatures in the area rise 0.4 degrees Celsius each decade.

Temperatures on Tuesday reached 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit) in Mecca and the sacred sites in and around the city, according to the Saudi National Center for Meteorology. Some people fainted while trying to perform the symbolic stoning of the devil.

“It was so harsh and the people cannot bear that type of heat,” said Wilayet Mustafa, a Pakistani pilgrim.

A witness said bodies lay on the side of the road near Mina, just outside Mecca, covered with the white Ihram cloth — a simple garb worn by pilgrims — until medical vehicles arrived.

Khalid Bashir Bazaz, an Indian pilgrim, speaking near the Grand Mosque on Wednesday, said he “saw a lot of people collapsing to the ground unconscious” during this year’s hajj.

Climate scientists say such deaths offer a glimpse of what is to come for the tens of millions of Muslims expected in coming decades to undertake the hajj.

“The hajj has been conducted in a certain way for more than 1,000 years now, and it’s always been a hot climate,” said Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, a scientific advisor at German institute Climate Analytics. “But… the climate crisis is adding to the severity of the climate conditions”.

During the hajj to the Kaaba, a cube-shaped stone structure at the Grand Mosque, pilgrims perform religious rites as taught by the Prophet Mohammad to his followers 14 centuries ago.

Integral parts of the hajj, Schleussner said, such as the ritual climb of Mount Arafat, have become “incredibly dangerous to human health.”

Each year tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform the hajj through irregular channels as they cannot afford the often-costly official permits.

Saudi authorities reported clearing hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca earlier this month, but many still participated in the main rites that began last Friday.

This group was more vulnerable to the heat because, without official permits, they could not access air-conditioned spaces provided by Saudi authorities for the 1.8 million authorized 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,” one Arab diplomat told AFP on Thursday, referring to Saturday’s day-long outdoor prayers that marked the hajj’s climax.

The diplomat said the principal cause of death among Egyptian pilgrims was the heat, which triggered complications related to high blood pressure and other issues.

In addition to Egypt, fatalities have also been confirmed by Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Jordan, Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia, and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region. 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.