During Saudi Arabia’s annual hajj pilgrimage, one of the most important events in the Muslim calendar, at least 450 people died in the scorching sun while praying at holy sites around the holy city of Mecca.
In the middle of the maximum temperature from 108 Fahrenheit to 120, according to preliminary data, and many people, many of whom died and required medical attention. Pilgrims, some of whom have saved their entire lives for the pilgrimage, spend their days walking and sleeping in tents on their journey to Mecca, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, and all Muslims who are physically and financially able are obliged to make the Hajj.
Indonesia has so far reported the most deaths, 199, and India has reported 98. The countries said at this time that they could not be sure that the heat was the cause of all the deaths, but the relatives of the missing and dead tour operators. It has been said that 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 death tolls for their citizens.
Egypt is quite worried because it has set up a crisis center to receive distress calls and coordinate the government’s response as families prepare for the high death toll as many people are reported missing.
This year, more than 1.8 million Muslims traveled to Mecca, 1.6 million from outside Saudi Arabia, according to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics.
Many have complained that there are not enough cooling stations or water for all pilgrims, and there are early reports that the problem is that many people are not officially registered for the hajj, possibly to avoid the cost of expensive hajj package tours.
Many of the pilgrims are elderly people who have used their savings to travel to the holy city. In the days before and during the holy period of Eid al-Adha, pilgrims visit several holy places, including circumambulating the Kaaba, and praying on Mount Arafat.
In a hajj Facebook group with more than 900,000 members, Egyptians posted appeals for their missing relatives. In one, a woman left a message for her mother: “Mom, I’m Rabab. I’ll be waiting for you outside the King Khaled Bridge … Please see this post. I died for you. You are the light of my eyes.”
Other countries reporting high death tolls include Jordan, Tunisia and Pakistan.
Jordan’s foreign ministry said 75 pilgrims had died “due to an intense heat wave.”
Tunisia’s Minister of Religious Affairs, Ibrahim Chaibi, said 49 Tunisians had been killed. He said the number would rise as the number of pilgrims traveling on tourist visas became clearer, according to Tunisia’s state news agency.
An Egyptian tour operator said that due to the increase in the cost of hajj package tours, as well as the devaluation of the Egyptian pound, many pilgrims opt for tourist visas, which burdens the facilities provided in Mecca and the surrounding holy sites.
A man speaking from Mecca, explained the dire situation for unregistered pilgrims. Speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, he said the unregistered pilgrims had no tents and were exposed to extreme heat. He said there were so few buses that many pilgrims walked more than 12 miles.
Hind Hassan, from Egypt, said her aunt Safa Tawab died during the hajj and the tour company that organized her trip hid the news until her family found her name on a list of the deceased published online.
A friend accompanying Ms. Tawab, 55, told the family that the pilgrimage was like “walking the path of death because of the heat and lack of water,” Ms. Hassan said.
Mahmoud Qassem, a member of the Egyptian Parliament, blamed dubious tour operators for “exposing Egyptian pilgrims to the lies and fraud of tourism companies,” calling for a police investigation.
Islamic Relief, a global aid agency based in London, has warned of the impact of climate change on the Hajj since 2019.
“If world emissions continue in a business-as-usual scenario, the temperature in Mecca will rise to a level that the human body cannot cope with,” Shahin Ashraf, head of the global advocacy organization, said in an emailed statement on Friday.
In Pakistan, which has lost at least 35 people, according to official figures, mourners are gathering to honor the dead. Dozens of people in Chaman, a town in Balochistan Province on Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, offered condolences outside Abdul Bari Kakar’s home. Mr Kakar, 49, runs a gas cylinder shop and has been saving for months to make his third trip, his relatives said.
He chose to “pray for his grandfather who died many years ago,” said his son, Sardar Wali.
“We are saddened by his death,” he said, “but he was lucky to die in the holy land.”
Hager Elhakeem contributed reporting from Luxor, Egypt, Christina Goldbaum and Zia ur-Rehman contributed from Pakistan, Muktita Suhartono from Indonesia and Judson Jones reported from Atlanta.
