The toll is growing. The number of deaths during the great Muslim pilgrimage which took place in Saudi Arabia under intense heat has exceeded 1,000, according to a count carried out by AFP using data provided by different countries.
An Arab diplomat said Thursday that 58 additional deaths had been recorded among Egyptian pilgrims, bringing to 658 the number of nationals of this country who died during the “hajj”. According to him, 630 of them did not have official authorization for the pilgrimage.
In total, 1,081 deaths were reported by around ten countries via official press releases or diplomats involved in victim search operations.
The “hajj” is one of the five pillars of Islam and every Muslim who can afford it must do it at least once in their life at a period determined by the Muslim calendar, based on lunar cycles. My rituals took place once again this year in very high temperatures, which reached 51.8 degrees Celsius at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the holiest city in Islam.
“People were tired of being chased”
Every year, tens of thousands of faithful attempt to participate in the pilgrimage without having the necessary permits, granted according to quotas and involving a certain number of costs. In early June, Saudi Arabia announced that its security forces had turned back more than 300,000 unregistered pilgrims from Mecca.
However, it seems that a large number of clandestine pilgrims participated in the rituals from Friday, in particularly trying conditions. “People were tired of being chased by security forces before the day of the (ritual at Mount) Arafat (Saturday). They were exhausted,” said an Arab diplomat on Thursday who requested anonymity.
He said heat was the main cause of death among Egyptian pilgrims, including complications from high blood pressure.