Temperatures exceeding 50 degrees Celsius, little shade and rites taking place mostly in broad daylight… difficult for pilgrims to protect themselves from the effects of extreme heat, even when one has taken, like this faithful Egyptian, the usual precautions:
“We had umbrellas, we had everything we needed, but the temperature was simply too high for some people, not to mention the crowds, the jostling… Really, we were well equipped, with umbrellas, with water. “People have been drinking a lot, but people are not used to such a heatwave and that’s why they are tired.”
Lack of ambulances
Tired, or even more… Egypt, Tunisia, Senegal: the list of countries which have reported deaths during the 2024 hajj is growing by the hour, even if we do not yet know exactly which cases are directly linked to .
Some pilgrims say they saw bodies lying on the side of the road and overwhelmed emergency services.
“Yesterday (Sunday 16.06) we were on our way and we saw dead bodies on the road, they were covered with a white sheet”, testifies Haddar Saila. “Because the temperatures are very high here! And I’m not just talking about old people, young people have died too. But thank God, if he wanted people to die here, thank God.”
“A lady was lying there”says Arzu Farhaj again. “She had no parents and people passed by her, but no one stopped. We asked security for an ambulance, but nothing”
Rising temperatures: pay attention to the impact on health
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Constantly rising temperatures
For their part, the Saudi authorities had, as of Sunday evening, claimed to have treated more than 2,700 pilgrims suffering from heat stress on Sunday alone. However, they did not provide information on deaths.
The heavy toll is also due to the fact that every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to participate in the hajj without official authorization, which denies them access to air-conditioned facilities.
Last May, a Saudi study warned that the hajj was increasingly suffering the effects of climate change. Temperatures at sites where rituals take place increase by 0.4 degrees Celsius every ten years.
The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. Muslims who have the means must perform it at least once in their lives.
