Relatives search for missing people as hajj death toll exceeds 900

MECCA

Friends and family of missing Hajj pilgrims searched for the missing Hajj pilgrims on Wednesday as the death toll from the annual rituals, which took place in scorching heat, surpassed 900.

Relatives scoured hospitals and appealed for information online, fearing the worst after temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) in Mecca, Islam's holiest city, on Monday.

About 1.8 million people from around the world, many of them elderly and infirm, took part in the one-day, mostly open-air pilgrimage, which took place this year during the Saudi summer, which resembled a oven.

An Arab diplomat told AFP that the death toll among Egyptians alone had risen to “at least 600”, from more than 300 a day earlier, mainly because of the merciless heat.

This figure brings the total number of deaths reported so far to 922, according to an AFP tally published by different countries.

The diplomat later added that Egyptian officials in Saudi Arabia had received “1,400 reports of missing pilgrims”, including 600 deaths.

Also among the dead were 23 Turkish pilgrims to Mecca.

Facebook and other social media sites have been flooded with photos of missing people and requests for information.

Scorching heat

The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims who can afford it must perform it at least once.

Its calendar is determined by the Islamic lunar calendar, which advances each year in the Gregorian calendar.

In recent years, the mostly open-air rituals have taken place during the sweltering Saudi summer.

Temperatures in the region are increasing by 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.72 degrees Fahrenheit) every decade, according to a Saudi study released last month.

Besides Egypt, deaths have also been confirmed in Jordan, Indonesia, Iran, Senegal and Tunisia, although in many cases authorities have not specified the cause.

A second Arab diplomat told AFP on Wednesday that Jordanian authorities were searching for 20 missing pilgrims, while 80 others, initially reported missing, had been found in hospitals.

An Asian diplomat told AFP that there were “around 68 dead” from India and that others were missing.

“Some died of natural causes and we had many elderly pilgrims. And some were due to weather conditions, that's what we assume,” he said.

Saudi Arabia has not provided information on deaths, although it reported more than 2,700 cases of “heat exhaustion” on Sunday alone.

Last year, more than 200 pilgrims were reported killed, most of them from Indonesia.

'No news'

Every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform the hajj through irregular means because they cannot afford the often expensive official permits.

This has become easier since 2019, when Saudi Arabia introduced a general tourist visa, said Umer Karim, an expert on Saudi politics at the University of Birmingham.

“Before, the only people who could do this were the people of the kingdom, and they know the situation,” he said.

“For these types of tourist visas, it’s like being on the migrant route without any idea of ​​what awaits them.”

One of the Arab diplomats who spoke to AFP on Wednesday said many Egyptian deaths were not recorded.

Even pilgrims who have official permits can be vulnerable, including Houria Ahmad Abdallah Sharif, a 70-year-old Egyptian pilgrim who has been missing since Saturday.

After praying on Mount Arafat, she told a friend she wanted to go to the public toilet to clean her abaya, but she never returned.

“We searched for her from door to door and haven’t found her until now,” said the friend, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We know many who are still looking for their family members and loved ones and don't find them, or if they find them, they find them dead,” the friend added.

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