Riyadh: More than 1,000 people have died on this year’s hajj, AFP reported on Thursday, more than half of them unregistered pilgrims in Saudi Arabia’s scorching heat.
At least 35 Pakistanis have died during this year’s Hajj due to extreme weather conditions, the Religious Affairs Ministry confirmed on Thursday.
The death toll from this year’s hajj has surpassed 1,000, AFP reported on Thursday. More than half of them went on pilgrimage in the heat.
Director General of Pakistan Hajj Mission, Abdul Wahab Soomro, reported that a total of 35 Pakistanis died on June 18-20 at 16:00 in Mecca, six in Medina, four in Mina, three in Arafah and three in Muzdalifah.
“It was a bit of a pilgrimage because the temperature was 50°C,” the official said.
Soomro also dismissed allegations that social media has left pilgrims “vulnerable”.
The new deaths reported on Thursday included 58 people from Egypt, Arab diplomats said, adding that 630 of the 658 dead Egyptians were unregistered pilgrims.
All told, about 10 countries have reported 1,081 deaths each year during the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, which all Muslims must complete at least once.
These figures are given by diplomats who work on official statements or responses from their own countries.
Hajj, which is determined by the Islamic calendar month, has again fallen into the summer of Saudi Arabia this year.
The National Meteorological Center reported a high of 51.8 degrees Celsius in Mecca’s Grand Mosque this week.
According to a Saudi study published last month, temperatures in the region are rising by 0.4°C every decade.
Saudi authorities say hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims have been cleared from Mecca this month, but many are still seen attending the main rituals that began last Friday.
The group is vulnerable to the heat, as 1.8 million authorized pilgrims are denied access to air-conditioned areas to cool down after hours of walking and praying outside by Saudi authorities without official permission.
“People are tired after being chased by security forces before Arafat Day. They are tired,” he said.
Diplomats said the main cause of death among Egyptian pilgrims was the heat, which led to complications related to high blood pressure and other problems.
The religious ministry said the funeral procession, attended by around 240,000 pilgrims, brought the death toll to 183, compared to 313 deaths recorded last year.
The death was also confirmed by Malaysia, India, Jordan, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia, Sudan and the autonomous Kurdistan Region of Iraq. In most cases, the authorities do not give reasons.
Meanwhile, friends and family members are still searching for the missing pilgrims.
On Wednesday, they searched hospitals and looked for information online, fearing the worst of the weather.
Two diplomats told AFP on Thursday that Saudi authorities had begun the process of burying the dead pilgrims, including cleaning the bodies, wrapping them in white cloth and placing them in separate graves.
“The funeral is carried out by the Saudi Arabian authorities. They have their own system, so we follow it,” said a diplomat, adding that the country is working to inform the relatives of the dead as much as possible.
Another diplomat said that given the number of deaths, it was impossible to notify many families in advance in Egypt, which led to many deaths.
