Saudi Arabia said Sunday that more than 1,300 faithful died during the hajj pilgrimage which took place during intense heat and that most of them who died did not have official permits.<\/p>\n
\u201cRegrettably, the number of mortalities reached 1,301, with 83 per cent being unauthorised to perform hajj and having walked long distances under direct sunlight, without adequate shelter or comfort,\u201d the official Saudi Press Agency reported.<\/p>\n
An AFP tally last week, based on official statements and reports from diplomats involved in their countries\u2019 responses, put the count at more than 1,100.<\/p>\n
The dead came from more than 10 countries stretching from the United States to Indonesia, and some governments are continuing to update their totals.<\/p>\n
Arab diplomats told AFP last week that Egyptians accounted for 658 deaths \u2014 630 of them unregistered pilgrims.<\/p>\n
The diplomats said the cause of death in most cases was heat-related.<\/p>\n
Temperatures in Mecca this year climbed as high as 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit), according to Saudi Arabia\u2019s national meteorological centre.<\/p>\n
Riyadh had not publicly commented on the deaths or provided its own count until Sunday.<\/p>\n
On Friday, however, a senior Saudi official gave AFP a partial count of 577 deaths for the two busiest days of hajj: June 15, when pilgrims gathered for hours of prayers in the blazing sun on Mount Arafat, and June 16, when they participated in the \u201cstoning of the devil\u201d ritual in Mina.<\/p>\n
The official also defended Riyadh\u2019s response, saying: \u201cThe state did not fail, but there was a misjudgement on the part of people who did not appreciate the risks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Heat stress\u2019<\/p>\n
The Saudi health minister, Fahd Al-Jalajel, on Sunday described management of the hajj this year as \u201csuccessful\u201d, SPA reported.<\/p>\n
He said the health system \u201cprovided more than 465,000 specialised treatment services, including 141,000 services to those who didn\u2019t obtain official authorisation to perform hajj,\u201d according to SPA, which summarised an interview he gave to the state-affiliated Al-Ekhbariya channel.<\/p>\n
Jalajel did not specify how many deaths Saudi officials attributed to heat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe health system addressed numerous cases of heat stress this year, with some individuals still under care,\u201d SPA reported.<\/p>\n
\u201cAmong the deceased were several elderly and chronically ill individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam that all Muslims with the means must complete at least once in their lives.<\/p>\n
Saudi officials have said 1.8 million pilgrims took part this year, a similar number to last year, and that 1.6 million came from abroad.<\/p>\n
For the past several years the mainly outdoor rituals have fallen during the sweltering Saudi summer.<\/p>\n
The timing of the hajj moves forward about 11 days each year in the Gregorian calendar, meaning that next year it will take place earlier in June, potentially in cooler conditions.<\/p>\n
A 2019 study by the journal Geophysical Research Letters said because of climate change, heat stress for hajj pilgrims will exceed the \u201cextreme danger threshold\u201d from 2047 to 2052 and 2079 to 2086, \u201cwith increasing frequency and intensity as the century progresses\u201d.<\/p>\n
Off-the-books hajj<\/p>\n
Hajj permits are allocated to countries on a quota system and distributed to individuals by lottery.<\/p>\n
Even for those who can obtain them, the steep costs spur many to attempt the hajj without a permit, though they risk arrest and deportation if caught.<\/p>\n
Saudi authorities said before the hajj that they had cleared hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca.<\/p>\n
But the Saudi official who spoke to AFP on Friday said around 400,000 unregistered pilgrims took part, and that \u201calmost all of them (were) from one nationality\u201d, an apparent reference to Egypt.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly ordered 16 tourism companies stripped of their licences and referred their managers to the public prosecutor over illegal pilgrimages to Mecca, Egypt\u2019s cabinet said.<\/p>\n
It said the rise in the number of deaths of unregistered Egyptian pilgrims stemmed from some companies which \u201corganised the hajj programmes using a personal visit visa, which prevents its holders from entering Mecca\u201d via official channels.<\/p>\n
Unregistered pilgrims in many cases did not have access to amenities meant to make the pilgrimage more bearable, including air-conditioned tents.<\/p>\n
Unregistered Egyptian pilgrims told AFP last week that in some cases they struggled to access hospitals or hail ambulances for loved ones, some of whom ended up dying.<\/p>\n
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