Saudi officials revealed on sunday that over 1,300 individuals lost their lives during the Hajj pilgrimage in saudi arabia this year due to the extremely high temperatures experienced by the devout at Islamic holy sites in the desert state.
 
83% of the 1,301 fatalities, according to Saudi health minister Fahd bin Abdurrahman Al-Jalajel, were unapproved pilgrims who travelled great distances in intense heat to complete the Hajj rites in and around the holy city of Mecca.
 
The minister added that 95 pilgrims were receiving medical attention in hospitals, with some of them being airlifted to the capital, Riyadh, in an interview with the state-run television station Al Ekhbariya TV.
 
He said that the lack of identity papers for a large number of the deceased pilgrims was the reason why the identification procedure was delayed.
 
He did not elaborate when he mentioned that the deceased were interred in Mecca.
 
Among the dead were about 660 Egyptians. Two authorities in Cairo claim that all but 31 of them were unapproved pilgrims.
 
According to officials, egypt has cancelled the licences of sixteen travel companies that assisted unauthorised pilgrims in reaching Saudi Arabia.
 
The majority of the fatalities, according to the authorities, were reported at the Emergency Complex in Mecca's Al-Muaisem district. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to inform journalists. This year, egypt dispatched over 50,000 approved pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
 
A crackdown by Saudi authorities on unapproved pilgrims resulted in tens of thousands of people being expelled. However, many people—mostly Egyptians—managed to go on foot to the sacred locations in and around Mecca. In contrast to licenced pilgrims, they lacked accommodations to which they might retreat from the intense heat.
 
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Hajj pilgrimage

G GOWTHAM

24/06/2024 10:19 AM