Hajj: More than 1,000 Muslim pilgrims die in the heatwave in Mecca

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: At least 1,000 Muslim pilgrims, including 68 Indians, who went to perform the Hajj in Mecca (Saudi Arabia), died during the last few days because of an extreme heatwave sweeping the Arabian country, the media reported on Thursday.

The media reported that Mecca’s temperature on Wednesday was recorded at 51.8 degrees Celcius. In the videos circulated on social media, several corpses were seen lying unattended on Mecca’s footpaths, streets, and even highways.

The death count from this year’s pilgrimage exceeded 1,000, more than half of whom were unregistered worshippers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia.

The registered deaths reported 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.

Nearly 10 countries have reported a total of 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. Some reports said the mortuaries in Mecca and nearly Saudi cities were full of corpses of those who died. Several people, whose communication with their home countries broke down, were clubbed together as “missing.”

The numbers of deaths emerged via official statements or from diplomats working on their countries’ responses.

The Hajj, whose timing is determined by the lunar Islamic calendar, fell again this year between June 14 and 19 during the oven-like Saudi summer.

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 in May, temperatures in the area are rising 0.4 degrees Celsius each decade.

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

Saudi officials reported clearing hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca earlier this month, but it appears many still participated in the main rites which 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,” an Arab said, referring to the last Saturday’s day-long outdoor prayers that marked the Hajj’s climax.

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

Besides Egypt, fatalities were confirmed by Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Jordan, Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia, and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, though in many cases authorities did not specify 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.