Death Toll Surpasses 900 due to unbearable heat at Hajj Pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia
Due to scorching heat, the rate of mortality among the Hajj pilgrims of KSA has risen sharply, and its figures are now crossing 900 this year. An Arab diplomat told AFP on Wednesday that only the Egyptians’ death toll has increased in the massacre to up to 600, not less than over 300 the day before due to heat.
This takes the total reported death toll to 922, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the various countries. The diplomat also said that Egyptian officials in the Saudi Kingdom had recorded as many as 1,400 cases of missing pilgrims, which included those who had died.
Hajj officials are still searching for some of the missing people, like Mabrouka bint Salem Shushana in her early seventies, now reported missing during the pinnacle of the pilgrimage at Mount Arafat on Saturday. Her husband, Mohammed, testified that she was unregistered and, therefore, did not have a legal permit to go for hajj, which locked her out of the AC-related facilities.
All the three interviewed commoners painted very pathetic albeit hasty pictures of her: “She is an old lady; she was tired, she was feeling hot; she had nowhere to sleep,” one said. This question is shocking. I looked for her in all the hospitals until now, and I don’t have a clue. ’
This has been evident in the pictures of missing pilgrims and the appeal for information that has flooded Facebook especially. In search of news are the family of Ghada Mahmoud Ahmed Dawood, an Egyptian pilgrim who has been missing since Saturday.
A family friend whom we visited in Saudi Arabia reported saying this to her daughter in Egypt where she was crying, imploring her to put any post on a FACEBOOK that could help them find her or trace her quite assured when I extended a word of comfort to her reassuring we could not find her name among the list of the dead people.
Similarly, Houria Ahmad Abdallah Sharif, a 70-year-old Egyptian pilgrim, has been missing since Saturday. After praying on Mount Arafat, she went to a public bathroom to clean her abaya and never returned.
The Hajj, one of Islam’s five pillars, requires all Muslims with the means to complete it at least once. Its timing is determined by the Islamic lunar calendar, which shifts forward each year in the Gregorian calendar. The outdoor rituals have coincided with the sweltering Saudi summer in recent years. A Saudi study published last month indicated that temperatures in the area rise by 0.4 degrees Celsius each decade.
In addition to the deaths reported by Egypt, fatalities have also been confirmed by Jordan, Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia, and Iraq, though many authorities have not specified the causes. A second Arab diplomat mentioned that Jordanian officials were searching for 20 missing pilgrims, with 80 others initially reported missing now found in hospitals. An Asian diplomat reported “around 68 dead” from India, with more missing. “Some [died] because of natural causes, and we had many old-age pilgrims. And some are due to the weather conditions; that’s what we assume,” he said.
Last year, more than 200 pilgrims, most from Indonesia, were reported dead. This year’s toll highlights the ongoing challenges faced during the Hajj, particularly with the rising temperatures exacerbating the harsh conditions for pilgrims.
