More than 1,000 people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as pilgrims faced extreme temperatures, officials said Sunday.
Temperatures during the pilgrimage, which took place from Friday, June 14th until Wednesday, June 19th topped 50 degrees celsius on Monday.
An Egyptian official said Sunday that more than half of the dead were from Egypt. The government only announced the deaths of 31 authorised pilgrims due to chronic illness, however a cabinet official told Associated Press that at least 630 other pilgrims died, most of them counted at Emergency Complex in Mecca’s Al-Muaisem neighbourhood.
The Egyptian government has revoked the license of 16 travel agencies, claiming that they had illegally facilitated the travel of unauthorised pilgrims to Saudi Arabia by providing them with a personal visa, which prevents pilgrims from officially entering Mecca.
The fatalities included 165 pilgrims from Indonesia, 98 from India and dozens more from Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Malaysia, according to an Associated Press tally.
The death toll has not been confirmed by Saudi Arabian officials, but is based on individual countries.
Videos posted on X show numerous victims on the route of the Hajj in Mecca, covered with white shrouds after becoming overwhelmed by the heat.
Friends and families of those missing after the pilgrimage have also been searching online for their missing loved ones.
CNN reported that two American citizens, Isatu Tejan Wurie and Alieu Dausy Wurie, were among the victims. The pair had reportedly saved $23,000 (€21,487) on an all-inclusive travel package through a tour company registered in the US.
The American news channel said the family claimed that the tour company had not provided the couple with sufficient transportation or food supplies to complete the five day pilgrimage.
Saudi Arabia has not commented on the death toll amid the heat during the pilgrimage, which is a pillar of Islam and required of every able Muslim once in their life.
In 2015, over 2,000 pilgrims died during a fatal stampede over the Hajj pilgrimage in Mecca, the deadliest Hajj disaster in its history.
