CAIRO, Egypt.- The death toll from the hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Meccaincreased this Sunday to more than 1,200, more than half of them of Egyptian nationality, in a ritual marked this year by the high temperatureswhich have touched the 52 degrees in Saudi Arabia.
Health and security sources in Egypt have indicated that the number of Egyptian Muslims who have died has risen to at least 672. The vast majority of them travelled “irregularly”.
The Egyptian government has confirmed the death of at least 31 pilgrims travelling on the official mission to Saudi Arabia, but has admitted that there is a “high number” of faithful dead among those who They entered the holy city without being registered.
Each country is providing data on the number of pilgrim deaths, and according to a count carried out on Sunday following learning of the increase in the number of deaths among Egyptians, the number has risen to more than 1,200.
Indonesia is the second most affected country with around 200 deaths among pilgrims, followed by India, which has recorded 98 deaths, and Jordan, with 75 deaths, all from “extreme heat”.
However, the vast majority of countries that have reported fatalities during the pilgrimage do not indicate the reasons for the deaths.
A crisis in Egypt
According to one of the Egyptian sources, some travel agencies organised hajj programmes with a personal visit visa, “which prevents their holders from entering Mecca.”
“This forced them to seek other routes through the desert on foot, without having decent accommodation in other areas of the ‘hajj’ rituals, which caused unregistered pilgrims to be exposed to fatigue and high temperatures,” he said.
On Saturday, Egyptian Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbuliordered the withdrawal of the licenses of 16 agencies that organized “irregular” trips to the ‘hajj’ following a meeting of the crisis cell created to follow up on this issue.
The head of the Executive added that it is difficult to count the Egyptians who entered illegally to make the pilgrimage to Mecca because they are not registered.
The countries have an official mission in which the people who make it up have the permits and visas that Saudi Arabia issues exclusively for the ritual.
However, due to the high price of this trip, which costs an average of $5,000 per person, many opt for other routes that the Saudi kingdom considers illegal.
These faithful who travelled unofficially, for example on a tourist visa, did not have access to air-conditioned facilities and tents during the pilgrimage, so their only shelter was the streets of Islam’s holiest city in the face of extreme heat.
Saudi Arabia, which has celebrated the pilgrimage’s “success” and has spent millions of dollars to accommodate the faithful, has not yet responded to the news of the deaths.
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2024-07-06 01:12:13
