Over 900 haj pilgrims die of extreme heat

RIYADH, June 19: Extreme heat has proved fatal for hundreds of Haj pilgrims who began the journey last Friday to the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Makkah in Saudi Arabia.

According to reports, at least 922 pilgrims have died of heatwave so far, including 600 from Egypt and 35 grom Pakistan.

A government official in Islamabad said 20 Pakistani pilgrims died in Makkah, six in Madina, four in Mina, three in Arafat and two in Muzdalifa. The other victims belonged to different countries.

Egypt has also registered 118 pilgrims missing, medical and security sources said, as temperatures at times soared past 51 degrees Celsius (124 Fahrenheit).

“It was so harsh and the people cannot bear that type of heat,” said Wilayet Mustafa, a Pakistani pilgrim.

A witness said bodies lay on the side of the road near Mina, just outside Makkah covered with the white Ihram cloth – a simple garb worn by pilgrims – until medical vehicles arrived.

Climate scientists say such deaths offer a glimpse of what is to come for the tens of millions of Muslims expected in coming decades to undertake the haj.

“The haj has been conducted in a certain way for more than 1,000 years now, and it’s always been a hot climate,” said Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, a scientific advisor at German institute Climate Analytics. “But … the climate crisis is adding to the severity of the climate conditions”.

During the haj to the Kaaba, a cube-shaped stone structure at the Grand Mosque, pilgrims perform religious rites as taught by the Prophet Mohammad to his followers 14 centuries ago.