Mecca, Saudi Arabia – Hundreds of people perished during this year’s Hajj trip in Saudi Arabia due to extreme heat at Islamic holy sites in the desert nation, officials said Wednesday, as people attempted to claim their loved ones’ bodies.
Saudi Arabia has not commented on the death toll during the trip, which is compulsory for every able Muslim once in their lives, or provided any explanations for those who died. However, hundreds of people had gathered at the Emergency Complex in Mecca’s Al-Muaisem neighborhood, hoping to find out what had happened to their lost loved ones.
One internet list claimed that at least 550 individuals died during the five-day Hajj. A physician who talked to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to discuss information not made public by the authorities said the identities mentioned appeared authentic. That physician and another officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they estimated there were at least 600 bodies at the facility.
Hundreds Died During This Year’s Hajj Pilgrimage In Saudi Arabia Amid Intense Heat, Officials Say
Deaths are not unusual during the Hajj, which has at times brought more than 2 million people to Saudi Arabia. There have been stampedes and epidemics during the pilgrimage’s history.
Each year, the Hajj attracts hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from low-income countries, “many of whom have had little, if any, pre-Hajj health care,” according to a study in the April issue of the Journal of Infection and Public Health. Communicable illnesses can spread among the crowd, many of whom have saved their entire lives for their journeys and maybe elderly with prior health concerns, according to the article.
However, this year’s high mortality toll shows that something triggered the increase. Several nations, like Jordan and Tunisia, have already reported that some of their pilgrims died as a result of the heat that swept across Mecca’s sacred sites.
On Tuesday, the Saudi National Centre for Meteorology said that temperatures in Mecca and its hallowed sites hit 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit). Onlookers witnessed some people fainting while attempting to perform the symbolic stoning of the demon.
According to authorities, temperatures at Mecca’s Grand Mosque reached 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday despite the fact that pilgrims had already gone to Mina.
Hundreds Died During This Year’s Hajj Pilgrimage In Saudi Arabia Amid Intense Heat, Officials Say
Others, especially many Egyptians, became separated from their loved ones because of the heat and overcrowding. According to Saudi Hajj authorities, more than 1.83 million Muslims will undertake the Hajj in 2024, including over 1.6 million pilgrims from 22 countries and over 222,000 Saudi nationals and residents.
On Wednesday, at the Mecca medical complex, an Egyptian man slumped to the ground when he heard his mother’s name among the dead. He grieved for a while before grabbing his phone and calling a travel agent, shouting, “He left her to die!” The audience attempted to appease the man.
Security appeared tight at the compound, with an official reading out the names of the deceased and their nationalities, which included Algerians, Egyptians, and Indians. Those who claimed to be deceased relatives were permitted inside to identify them.
The kingdom’s ruling Al Saud family wields significant power in the Muslim world due to its oil wealth and control over Islam’s holy sites. King Salman, like previous Saudi rulers, has assumed the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, alluding to the Grand Mosque in Mecca, which houses the cube-shaped Kaaba that Muslims pray to five times a day, and the Prophet’s Mosque in the adjacent city of Medina.
Hundreds Died During This Year’s Hajj Pilgrimage In Saudi Arabia Amid Intense Heat, Officials Say
Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on crowd control and safety precautions for those making the annual five-day pilgrimage, but the sheer number of people makes assuring their safety difficult.
Climate change could amplify the risk. According to a 2019 study conducted by specialists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, even if the world succeeds in reducing the worst consequences of climate change, the Hajj will be hosted in temperatures above an “extreme danger threshold” from 2047 to 2052 and 2079 to 2086.
Because Islam follows the lunar calendar, the Hajj occurs 11 days earlier each year. It will take place in April 2030, and in the following years, it will be held in the winter when temperatures are milder.
According to an Associated Press count, a 2015 stampede in Mina during the Hajj killed almost 2,400 pilgrims, making it the deadliest event to ever hit the pilgrimage. Saudi Arabia has never acknowledged the full scale of the catastrophe. A separate crane fall at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, which occurred before the Mina disaster, killed 111 people.
The second-deadliest occurrence at the Hajj was a 1990 stampede that killed 1,426 people.
SOURCE – (AP)
