At least 19 people die during major hajj pilgrimage to Mecca amid severe heat hitting Saudi Arabia
At least 14 Jordanian and five Iranian pilgrims died in Saudi Arabia during the great annual hajj pilgrimage, which is held in oppressive heat, their countries’ authorities announced on Sunday.
The annual hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, began Friday in Mecca, western Saudi Arabia, with the participation of more than 1.8 million worshipers, most of them from from abroad.
46°C recorded on Saturday
This year it is taking place in the middle of summer, in one of the hottest regions in the world where the thermometer reached 46 degrees on Saturday. The Saudi authorities have not communicated on the number of cases of hyperthermia observed among pilgrims, but last year, more than 10,000 cases were recorded, including 10% of heat stroke, the most serious case.
“14 Jordanian pilgrims died and 17 others disappeared while performing the hajj rituals,” the Jordanian Foreign Ministry said on Sunday, according to a statement published by the official Petra news agency. The 14 pilgrims died “after suffering from heatstroke”, he added.
A fundamental pilgrimage for Muslims
“The ministry is following with the competent Saudi authorities the procedures for the burial of pilgrims and the transport of the bodies of those whose families wish their bodies to be transferred to the kingdom,” he assured, specifying that the search was continuing to find the 17 missing pilgrims.
The head of the Iranian Red Crescent, Pirhossein Koolivand, for his part indicated that “five Iranian pilgrims had lost their lives (…) in Mecca and Medina during the hajj this year”, without immediately specifying the circumstances surrounding their death.
All Muslims are expected to perform the hajj to Mecca at least once in their life if they can afford it. It consists of a series of rites performed over four days.
