The official death toll for this year’s Hajj season has risen to nearly 500, and the actual number could be more than double that, as reports emerged that up to 600 Egyptian pilgrims died on the way to Mecca amid extreme temperatures.
At least 14 Malaysians, 165 Indonesians, 75 Jordanians, 35 Pakistanis, 49 Tunisians, 11 Iranians, and 98 Indians have died, according to authorities in each country. At the same time, the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said another 27 Jordanians were hospitalized, and about 14 were still missing.
According to news, this brings the latest official death toll in this year’s Hajj season to at least 480, and the death toll is expected to rise much more, as Saudi Arabia and Egypt have not yet published official figures. In addition, governments are only aware of pilgrims who have registered and traveled to Mecca as part of their country’s official mission, as more deaths are feared among unregistered pilgrims.
The US State Department said that several American citizens had died while performing the Hajj but did not provide a figure, saying: “We can confirm that several American citizens have died in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We offer our deepest condolences to the families for their loss,” adding that the department stands ready to provide Consular assistance. This year, pilgrims journeyed in dangerously high temperatures of up to 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit). On Monday, the Saudi government said that more than 2,700 people had received treatment for heatstroke.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people took to social media to post about the loss of loved ones, and more than 1.8 million people participated in this year’s Hajj, one of the largest religious gatherings in the world, according to the Saudi General Authority for Statistics. While deaths among pilgrims are not uncommon (there were more than 200 cases last year), this year’s gathering is being held amid exceptionally high temperatures.
The Saudi health minister, Fahd al Jalajel, stated that the health system “arranged over 465 thousand specialized treatment services which comprised 141 thousand hajj pilgrimage services for those who failed to attain official permission to embark on the journey,” as reported by SPA, recounting the details of an interview conducted by the state-owned Al Ekhbariya channel.
The author of the article, Jalajel, did not state how many times Saudi officials reported people dying from heat. OHCS has handled cases of heat stress this year; some persons are still receiving treatment,” SPA said. There were several elderly and those with long-term chronic diseases among the deceased.
The Hajj is one of the most significant religious practices in the Islamic faith. It is considered one of the pillars of the religion that every believer can make at least once in a lifetime. This year, 8 million pilgrims participated in the Hajj, slightly less than the previous year 1. 3·7 million were foreign-born across the United States.
For the past several years, the mainly outdoor rituals have been held during the hottest season of the Saudi Arabian summer. Considering the Julian calendar, which Muslims still use, this event seems to occur 11 days earlier in the Gregorian calendar each year. This means the Hajj will be earlier in June next year, and the climate will be more relaxed.
A report in the Geophysical Research Letters journal 2019 said that for hajj performers, heat stress will hit the level of extreme danger from 2047 – 2052, 2079 – 2086, and with rising frequency and intensity throughout the century.
