Saudi authorities announced on Sunday that 1,301 people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca, with 83% of the fatalities being unauthorized pilgrims who walked for long distances in extreme heat. The Saudi Health Minister, Fahd bin Abdurrahman Al-Jalajel, reported to Al Ekhbariya TV that 95 pilgrims are currently being treated in hospitals, some of whom were airlifted to the capital, Riyadh. The identification process was delayed due to the lack of identification documents among the deceased.
The majority of the dead, over 660, were Egyptian citizens, with all but 31 of them being unauthorized pilgrims. Egypt has revoked the licenses of 16 travel agencies that facilitated the travel of unauthorized pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. The officials in Cairo said that the majority of the deaths occurred at the Emergency Complex in Mecca’s Al-Muaisem neighborhood. Egypt had sent over 50,000 authorized pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year.
Saudi authorities had cracked down on unauthorized pilgrims, expelling tens of thousands of people, but many, mostly Egyptians, managed to reach the holy sites, some on foot. The unauthorized pilgrims had no hotels to return to, making it difficult for them to escape the scorching heat. The Saudi government has referred officials from the travel agencies to the public prosecutor for investigation.
Hajj Pilgrimage
In addition to the Egyptian fatalities, there were deaths among pilgrims from other countries, including 165 from Indonesia, 98 from India, and dozens more from Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria, and Malaysia. Two U.S. citizens were among the dead. The exact causes of death could not be independently confirmed, but some countries, such as Jordan and Tunisia, have blamed the heat. Pilgrims were seen fainting, vomiting, and collapsing from the extreme temperatures, which reached as high as 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit) during the day.
Historically, deaths are not uncommon at the Hajj, which has seen deadly stampedes and epidemics in the past. The 2015 stampede in Mina killed over 2,400 pilgrims, making it the deadliest incident in the pilgrimage’s history. This year’s high death toll suggests exceptional circumstances, which may be attributed to the extreme heat. The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and is one of the world’s largest religious gatherings. Over 1.83 million Muslims performed the Hajj this year, including over 1.6 million from 22 countries and around 222,000 Saudi citizens and residents. Despite Saudi Arabia’s efforts to improve crowd control and safety measures, the sheer number of participants makes it difficult to ensure their safety. Climate change may also exacerbate the risk, with a recent study predicting that the Hajj will be held in extreme danger temperatures from 2047 to 2052 and from 2079 to 2086.
