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Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that 1,301 pilgrims had died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, 83 percent of whom were not officially registered. Many of the victims were elderly people with chronic diseases.
photo: SITA/AP, Rafiq Maqbool
A worker refreshes a female pilgrim with cold water during the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca on June 18, 2024
Compared to registered pilgrims, pilgrims who are not registered and have Hajj permission from Saudi authorities are unable to use all services, including air-conditioned areas.
As a result, they were forced to “travel long distances in scorching heat without adequate shelter or comfort,” the official SPA news agency quoted Health Minister Fahd Jarajil as saying.
The annual Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be performed by all able Muslims at least once in their lifetime. Its date is determined according to the Islamic lunar calendar, and this year it coincided with Saudi Arabia’s hot summer. In Mecca, they measured a high of 51.8 degrees Celsius.
Tens of thousands of pilgrims try to take the pilgrimage illegally every year because they cannot afford the expensive official permits that would deny them access to air-conditioned areas and escape the heat.
About 1.8 million pilgrims took part in the hajj, Islam’s holiest city, Mecca. Last year, more than 200 pilgrims died; most of them were from Indonesia.
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