The Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, this year has been marked by tragedy as over 1,000 pilgrims have died, primarily due to extreme heat reaching 49 degrees Celsius. Among the deceased, a significant number were unregistered pilgrims.
More than 1,000 pilgrims have lost their lives during this year's Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, with many suffering from heatstroke as temperatures soared to 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the latest media reports. Over half of the pilgrims who died were unregistered, with 658 deaths reported among pilgrims from Egypt, according to an Arab diplomat. Out of these, 630 were unregistered pilgrims.
Meanwhile, videos are doing rounds on social media where the dead bodies are seen unattended and lying on the roadside. The Saudi government has reported that more than 1.8 million people are participating in this year's Hajj, making it one of the largest religious gatherings in the world.
550+ Hajj Pilgrims died due to extreme heat & their dead bodies left on the streets of Mecca
The dead include 323 Egyptians, 60 pilgrims from Jordan and 35 from Tunisia
Mecca recorded temprature of 51.8 degree & expected to go up. officials fearing more deaths in coming days pic.twitter.com/n6Jh1fKOuc
During Hajj rituals, many Muslims die from heat and dehydration. Their bodies lie on the streets, and nobody cares. People pass by them and continue their rituals, merely covering their faces and leaving them until the authorities take their corpses.
pic.twitter.com/dL6Pf1AnG7
A diplomat in Saudi Arabia said earlier on Wednesday (June 19) that 68 Indian nationals died during the Hajj pilgrimage this year marked by soaring heat. Fatalities have also been confirmed by Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia and Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, though in many cases authorities have not specified the cause.
Over 200 pilgrims were reported deceased last year, the majority of them were from Indonesia. Saudi Arabia recorded more than 2,700 cases of "heat exhaustion" on Sunday alone, but it has not released any statistics on deaths.