51.8 degrees in the shade
Mecca: Already over 500 dead during Hajj pilgrimage
The extreme heat in the pilgrimage city of Mecca is claiming hundreds of lives during this year's Hajj. According to the latest counts, more than 900 people have already lost their lives on the pilgrimage.
"All (newly confirmed) deaths are also due to the heat," an Arab diplomat told the AFP news agency on Wednesday. At least 600 pilgrims from Egypt alone had died due to the high temperatures of up to 51.8 degrees.
Jordan, Iran, Iraq, Tunisia, Indonesia and Senegal have also reported deaths at the Hajj in recent days. An Asian diplomat also spoke of "around 68" Indian pilgrims who died. As the AFP news agency calculated on the basis of data from various countries, this means that 922 people have already lost their lives on the Hajj this year.
Pilgrims' relatives desperately searched for information. Numerous photos of missing Hajj participants were published on online networks such as Facebook. The search for missing persons is made more difficult by the fact that many believers take part in the Hajj without an official pilgrimage license for financial reasons and are therefore not registered by the Saudi Arabian authorities.
Pilgrimage in sweltering heat
The pilgrimage began in Mecca on Friday evening in sweltering heat. According to the Saudi Center for Meteorology, a temperature of 51.8 degrees Celsius was measured in the Grand Mosque on Monday afternoon and similarly high temperatures were recorded at other holy sites in the area.
Authorities called on believers to carry umbrellas, not to stay outside during the particularly hot midday hours and to drink plenty of water. The Sky News channel showed a pilgrim cooling off in a drinks fridge.
Millions travel to holy sites
Last year, around two million pilgrims took part in the pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, which is one of the five basic duties of Islam. Buses and trains already help to transport the many believers to the holy sites, but the large crowds and intense heat still pose a challenge for pilgrims and law enforcement officers. In recent decades, there have also been several major tragedies, each involving hundreds of deaths due to crowds.
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