Saudi Arabian authorities have confirmed that at least 1,301 people have died this year during the Hajj, the traditional pilgrimage to Mecca that Muslim faithful who are able are required to make at least once in their lives. This year the Hajj was held in mid-June (its dates vary from year to year): almost all the deaths were due to the intense heat in Saudi Arabia in this period, in which temperatures exceeded 50 degrees in Mecca.
According to the Saudi news agency SPA, three-quarters of the dead were pilgrims without special visas granted by Saudi Arabia, which grants access to many air-conditioned facilities. To obtain it, there is an expensive system of quotas and lotteries: many people therefore decide to undertake the pilgrimage in an unauthorized manner, despite the risks linked to the heat and the possibility of being arrested and expelled if discovered by the Saudi authorities. This year, authorities said they had removed hundreds of thousands of unauthorized pilgrims from Mecca.
This year, around 1.8 million people took part in the Hajj: Saudi health facilities treated half a million of them, including 140,000 without visas, according to what was said by Saudi Health Minister Fahd al Jalajel.
Most of the dead were from Egypt, an anonymous official told the news agency AFP that 658 Egyptian people died. Indonesian and Indian authorities said deaths from their respective countries were 200 and 98. Iran, Jordan, Pakistan, Malaysia, Senegal and Sudan also reported deaths among pilgrims from their countries, but Until Sunday, Saudi Arabia had not commented publicly on the deaths. In Jordan, several tour operators accused of allowing unauthorized pilgrimages were arrested, while others in Egypt had their professional licenses revoked.
– Read also: Photos of the beginning of the Hajj
