Friday, June 21, 2024
More than 1,000 pilgrims died during Hajj pilgrimage in Makkah
The death toll from this year’s hajj has exceeded 1,000 on Thursday, more than half unregistered worshipers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia. Trending : Digital transfer of salaries to new domestic workers from 1st July
About 10 countries have reported 1,081 deaths during the 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 during the oven-like Saudi summer again this year. The Saudi national meteorological center reported a high of 51.8°C this week at the Grand Mosque in Makkah.
- A Saudi study published last month said temperatures in the area are rising 0.4°C each decade.
- Each year tens of thousands of pilgrims try to join the hajj through irregular channels, as they cannot afford the often costly official permits.
- Saudi Arabian authorities reported clearing hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Makkah this month, but it appears many still participated in the main rites which began on Friday last week. Most Viewed : Update on Flexible work regulations in Saudi Arabia
- This group was more vulnerable, because without official permits they could not access air-conditioned spaces provided for the 1.8 million authorized pilgrims to cool down.
- More fatalities were also confirmed on Thursday by Egypt, India, Pakistan and Indonesia.
- The new deaths reported on Thursday from Egypt, said an Arab diplomat who provided a breakdown showing that of 658 Egyptians who died, 630 were unregistered pilgrims. The diplomat said the main cause of death among pilgrims was the heat, which triggered complications related to high blood pressure and other issues.
- “However, there are large numbers of Egyptian citizens who are not registered in hajj databases, which requires double the effort and a longer time to search for missing persons and find their relatives,” it said.
- 98 Indians have died during the annual Hajj pilgrimage this year, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said total deaths of Indians in the entire Haj period last year were 187. Read : KSA ranks first in world in Cybersecurity Index
- "This year, 1,75000 Indian pilgrims visited Makkah for Haj. The Haj period is from May 9 to July 22. This year, till now, 98 deaths have been reported," he said. "The deaths have been due to natural causes, chronic illnesses, and old age. Six people died on the day of Arafat and four were accident-related deaths," Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.
Out of about 150,000 pilgrims, Pakistan has so far recorded 58 deaths, a diplomat said. “I think given the number of people, given the weather, this is just natural,” the diplomat said.
Indonesia, which had about 240,000 pilgrims, raised its death toll to 183, the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs said, compared with 313 deaths recorded last year.
Deaths have also been confirmed by Malaysia, Jordan, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia, Sudan and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region. In many cases, authorities have not specified the cause.
Friends and relatives have been searching for missing pilgrims, scouring hospitals and pleading online for news, fearing the worst. Recommend : Saudi Arabia prohibits its workers to work under direct sunlight
Two diplomats on Thursday said that Saudi authorities had begun the burial process for dead pilgrims, cleaning the bodies and putting them in white burial cloth and taking them to be interred.
“The burial is done by the Saudi authorities. They have their own system so we just follow that,” said one diplomat, who said his country was working to notify loved ones as best it could.
Officials of various countries were visiting hospitals to obtain information and help pilgrims get medical care.
A 2019 study by the journal Geophysical Research Letters said because of climate change, heat stress for hajj pilgrims would exceed the “extreme danger threshold” from 2047 to 2052 and 2079 to 2086, “with increasing frequency and intensity as the century progresses.” Join Saudi Expatriates channel on WhatsApp
More than 1,000 pilgrims died during Hajj pilgrimage in Makkah
