Hundreds dead. Maybe over 1,000. Maybe many more. This is the tragic outcome one week before the start of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the most solemn moments of the year for the Islamic world. What’s more, a moment awaited all their lives by thousands of Muslim faithful from the most remote corners of the planet, who often plan the trip for decades, specifically putting aside their savings. The drama within the drama, it seems, is that those who suffered the most tragic fate in recent days were in all likelihood many of the poorest and most unprepared pilgrims for the journey. This was explained to the BBC by some Egyptian families directly affected by the deaths caused primarily by the scorching temperatures of recent days in Saudi Arabia (up to almost 52 degrees). And their story evokes those known from other journeys of desperation.
The business of pilgrimages
To carry out the pilgrimage in a situation of full regularity, the Saudi authorities provide special “Haji visas”. Those who obtain them normally then enter a circuit that guarantees pilgrims overnight accommodation in air-conditioned tents, transfers between the main sacred places of Islam by bus and health care where necessary. The problem is that obtaining those permits can be a complicated and/or expensive process for families with little means. And so many decide to travel with a simple tourist visa. Which guarantees entry into Arabia, but without any particular organizational or other type of coverage. In practice, this is the case at least for those leaving from Egypt, who instead rely on specialized travel agents. Which, however, do not always turn out to be exactly guarantees. On the contrary. To board an official Haji convoy, Egyptian pilgrims have to pay something like 6 thousand dollars, a fortune (the average monthly salary barely exceeds 400 dollars). In Effendiya, a 70-year-old woman who later died from the torrid climate – and probably many others – a local agent had offered the service for an amount equal to about half, promising “five-star” treatment. What was supposed to happen was actually very different.
Abandoned in thin air in the hot sun
The pilgrims would have been left a dozen kilometers from Mount Arafat – the first of the sacred places of Islam part of the route, where traditionally a night is spent in prayer – and abandoned there, under the scorching sun. «Every time I video called my mother she was spilling water on herself. She couldn’t stand that infernal heat. In the last video call she was exhausted,” testified the son of the 70-year-old Egyptian. According to the man, in short, pilgrims like his mother who dreamed of the journey of their lives were “completely abandoned”. While the case is creating a scandal in the country, with the exact figures of deaths and injuries still unclear, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly said that an investigation will be opened into the activities of the agencies that organize tours of “unregistered” pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. As for Effendiya, the woman later died on a street corner towards Mecca. «She hoped to die and be buried in the sacred city: at least this dream of hers has come true», her children mourn her now.
