More than 1,000 Muslims died during the recent Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia after the region was hit by extreme temperatures, authorities said.
Two senior government officials in Cairo explanation More than half of those who died were from Egypt, the Associated Press reported Sunday, adding that “Egyptian authorities have revoked the licenses of 16 travel agencies that helped unauthorized pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia, officials said.”
Video footage show What are the bodies lying on the streets of Mina? The Wall Street JournalThe media outlet reports that temperatures recently exceeded 125 degrees.
Arab diplomats told AFP on Tuesday that many of the deaths during this year’s hajj pilgrimage to Mecca were due to “heat stroke,” Breitbart News reported on Wednesday.
Temperatures in Saudi Arabia topped 125 degrees during this year’s Hajj, killing more than 1,000 people, including Americans and hundreds of Egyptians. https://t.co/K5nd97YoYk https://t.co/K5nd97YoYk
— The Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) June 21, 2024
Saudi authorities said on June 16 that more than 2,000 pilgrims had been treated for heatstroke, but did not mention any deaths.
The Associated Press report continues:
Saudi Arabian authorities cracked down on unauthorized pilgrims, expelling tens of thousands, but some, many of them Egyptians, managed to reach the holy sites around Mecca, some on foot. Unlike the authorized pilgrims, they had no hotels to escape the scorching heat.
The government said in a statement that 16 travel agencies had not provided proper services to pilgrims and that they had illegally helped pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia using visas that were not permitted for travel to Mecca.
Saudi Arabia has faced intense criticism for failing to provide adequate safety procedures, water and other services to participants in the hajj pilgrimage that ended on Tuesday, according to Breitbart News, which noted that the death toll is estimated at 230 in 2023.
According to the Royal Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, DC: Hajj It is the “spiritual pinnacle of a Muslim’s life” and indicates that the person has lived out the fifth pillar of Islamic faith.
Over 1,000 Muslims die from heatstroke during Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia: Report https://t.co/JoP94J33xA
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 21, 2024
The embassy also noted that pilgrims walk about eight miles to the Arafat Plain to pray. Temperatures there hover around 90 degrees Celsius, and thousands of sprinklers have been installed to help cool them down, as well as refrigerated trucks to provide cold water.
“Despite these precautions, sirens blared as hundreds of ambulances picked up pilgrims suffering from heatstroke and took them to special clinics for treatment. Those with more serious conditions were taken to hospital by helicopter,” the embassy said.
