Hajj death toll exceeds 1,300, mostly unregistered pilgrims

Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday that the death toll of Hajj pilgrims has exceeded 1,300 as they made the pilgrimage in extreme heat and most of the dead did not have official permits.

“Unfortunately, the death toll reached 1,301, with 83% not having permission to perform Hajj and having walked long distances in direct sunlight, without adequate shelter or comfort,” Saudi Press Agency mentionted.

The dead pilgrims were from more than 10 countries, from the United States to Indonesia, and some governments are still updating their numbers.

According to Arab diplomats last week, Egyptians suffered 658 deaths, including 630 unregistered pilgrims.

They said the cause of death in most cases was heat-related as temperatures in Mecca this year soared as high as 51.8C, according to Saudi Arabia’s national meteorological centre.

Riyadh had not publicly commented on the deaths or given its own account until Sunday.

But on Friday, a senior Saudi official gave a partial account of 577 deaths on the two busiest days of the Hajj: on June 15, when pilgrims gathered for hours of prayer in the blazing sun on Mount Arafat, and on June 16, when they participated in the ritual ” stoning of the devil’ in Mina.

The official also defended Riyadh’s response, saying: “The state did not fail, but there was a misjudgment on the part of people who did not appreciate the risks.”

Saudi Arabia’s health minister, Fahd Al Jalajel, on Sunday described the management of this year’s Hajj as “successful”. HEALING SPRING mentionted.

He said the health system “provided more than 465,000 specialized treatment services, including 141,000 services to those who did not receive official permission to perform Hajj,” according to HEALING SPRINGwhich summarized an interview he gave to Saudi Arabia’s Al Ekhbariya channel.

Saudi officials said 1.8 million pilgrims took part this year, a similar number to last year, and that 1.6 million came from abroad.