Greater than 1,000 pilgrims died throughout this yr’s Hajj season
Cairo (AP) – Greater than 1,000 individuals died throughout Hajj season this yr within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Believers confronted extraordinarily excessive temperatures at Islamic holy websites within the desert kingdom, officers stated Sunday.
Greater than half of these killed have been Egyptians, based on officers in Cairo. Egyptian authorities stated that Egypt has canceled the licenses of 16 journey companies that helped unauthorized pilgrims journey to Saudi Arabia.
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia There was no touch upon deaths throughout Hajj It’s required of each ready Muslim as soon as in his life.
The Egyptian authorities introduced the dying of 31 approved pilgrims attributable to power illnesses throughout this yr’s Hajj season, but it surely didn’t present an official rely of different pilgrims.
Nonetheless, a cupboard official stated that no less than 630 different Egyptians died whereas performing the Hajj, most of them reported on the emergency advanced in Mecca’s Al-Ma’aisem district. An Egyptian diplomat confirmed this toll and stated that many of the lifeless have been buried in Saudi Arabia.
The officers spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t approved to tell journalists.
Saudi authorities have taken strict measures in opposition to unauthorized pilgrims, expelling tens of hundreds of individuals. However many, most of them Egyptians, have been capable of attain the holy websites in and round Mecca, some on foot. In contrast to approved pilgrims, that they had no accommodations to flee the scorching warmth.
The federal government stated in its assertion that the 16 journey companies failed to supply ample providers to pilgrims. It stated that these companies illegally facilitated the journey of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia utilizing visas that don’t enable their holders to journey to Mecca.
The federal government additionally stated that firm officers had been referred to the general public prosecutor for investigation.
The lifeless additionally included 165 pilgrims from Indonesia, 98 from India, and dozens extra from Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Malaysia, based on an Related Press tally. Two American pilgrims have been additionally reported killed.
Muslim pilgrims use umbrellas to guard themselves from the solar as they arrive to throw stones at pillars within the symbolic stoning of the satan, the final ritual of the annual Hajj, in Mina, close to the holy metropolis of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, June 18, 2024. (Photograph (AP/Rafiq Maqbool)
The Related Press was unable to independently affirm the causes of dying, however some nations akin to Jordan and Tunisia blamed excessive temperatures.
Related Press journalists witnessed pilgrims shedding consciousness because of the excessive warmth throughout the Hajj, particularly on the second and third days. Some vomited and collapsed.
Deaths are usually not uncommon throughout the Hajj season, which at instances has seen greater than two million individuals journey to Saudi Arabia to carry out the five-day Hajj. The historical past of Hajj additionally witnessed stampedes and lethal epidemics.
However this yr’s toll was unusually excessive, indicating distinctive circumstances.
In 2015, a stampede in Mina throughout the Hajj season killed greater than 2,400 pilgrims.It’s the deadliest incident ever to hit the Hajj, based on AP. Saudi Arabia has by no means acknowledged the complete variety of the stampede. A separate crane collapsed within the Grand Mosque in Mecca Earlier the identical yr 111 have been killed.
The second deadliest accident throughout the Hajj season was the stampede that occurred in 1990 and led to the deaths of 1,426 individuals.
Throughout this yr’s Hajj interval, every day excessive temperatures ranged between 46 levels Celsius (117 levels Fahrenheit) and 49 levels Celsius (120 levels Fahrenheit) in Mecca and the holy websites in and round Medina, based on the Saudi Nationwide Meteorological Middle. Some individuals have fainted whereas making an attempt to carry out the process Symbolically stoning Devil.
The Hajj, one of many 5 pillars of Islam, is likely one of the largest non secular gatherings on the earth. Greater than 1.83 million Muslims carried out the Hajj in 2024, together with greater than 1.6 million from 22 nations, and about 222,000 Saudi residents and residents, based on Saudi Hajj authorities.
Saudi Arabia has spent billions of {dollars} on crowd management and security measures for these attending the annual five-day Hajj, however the sheer variety of members makes making certain their security troublesome.
Local weather change can enhance dangers. A 2019 research by specialists on the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how discovered that even when the world succeeds in mitigating the worst results of local weather change, the Hajj will probably be held at temperatures exceeding the “excessive hazard threshold” from 2047 to 2052, and from 2079 to 2079. 2052. 2086.
Islam follows the lunar calendar, so the Hajj comes roughly 11 days earlier every year. By 2029, the Hajj will happen in April, and several other years later in winter, when temperatures are extra average.
