550 pilgrims die during hajj in scorching temperatures reaching over 50C

At least 550 people have died during a mass gathering, with temperatures rising over 50C and motionless bodies seen on the roadside.

At least 550 pilgrims are believed to have died during the hajj this year as scorching temperatures rose above 50C.

The hajj is an annual pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia and is one of the five pillars of Islam.

All adult Muslims with the means must complete it at least once in their life.

This year, set in the middle of the Middle East’s summer, the Saudi weather service reported temperatures hit 51.8C at the Masjid al-Haram, also known as the Grand Mosque or the Great Mosque, on Monday.

Pictures showed seas of people with umbrellas trying to shade themselves from the extreme heat.

Some pilgrims have reported seeing motionless bodies on the side of the road, while there are also concerns about people missing.

Muslim pilgrims gather to perform the farewell circumambulation or "tawaf", circling seven times around the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage. Picture: AFP

Around 1.8 million pilgrims took part in the hajj this year, 1.6 million of them from abroad, according to Saudi authorities.

In confronting news, global news agency AFP has updated its tally of deaths to 577, citing reports from multiple countries.

Diplomats confirmed the total at the morgue in Al-Muaisem, one of the biggest in Mecca, was 550.

The death toll is now significantly higher than initial reports.

Most of those who have died are from Egypt, with authorities also confirming they are searching for Egyptians who went missing during the journey.

Other pilgrims who have died were from Jordan, Indonesia, Iran and Senegal.

Mecca's Grand Mosque, where temperatures hit 51.8C. Picture: Fadel Senna / AFP

There are measures taken to reduce heat stress during the hajj like roads being painted white to reflect sunlight and tents on Mt Arafat, considered the peak of the pilgrimage, being airconditioned.

However, there are still “off-the-books pilgrims” who can’t afford proper registration and try to complete the hajj and don’t have access to these facilities.

Tents used by Muslim pilgrims near Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal al-Rahma or Mount of Mercy, during the annual hajj pilgrimage. Picture: Fadel Senna / AFP

Heat stress

AFP journalists in Mina, outside Mecca, on Monday saw pilgrims pouring bottles of water over their heads as volunteers handed out cold drinks and fast-melting chocolate ice cream to help them keep cool.

Saudi officials had advised pilgrims to use umbrellas, drink plenty of water and avoid exposure to the sun during the hottest hours of the day.

But many of the hajj rituals, including the prayers on Mount Arafat which took place on Saturday, involve being outdoors for hours in the daytime.

Some pilgrims described seeing motionless bodies on the roadside and ambulance services that appeared overwhelmed at times.

Muslim pilgrims wave to bid farewell to the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque on June 18. Picture: AFP

At least 323 of those who died were Egyptians, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, two Arab diplomats co-ordinating their countries’ responses told AFP.

“All of them (the Egyptians) died because of heat” except for one who sustained fatal injuries during a minor crowd crush, one of the diplomats said, adding the total figure came from the hospital morgue in the Al-Muaisem neighbourhood of Mecca.

At least 60 Jordanians also died, the diplomats said, up from an official tally of 41 given earlier on Tuesday by Amman.

Saudi authorities have reported treating more than 2000 pilgrims suffering from heat stress but have not updated that figure since Sunday and have not provided information on fatalities.

The pilgrimage is increasingly affected by climate change, according to a Saudi study published last month that said temperatures in the area where rituals are performed were rising 0.4C each decade.

At least 240 pilgrims were reported dead by various countries last year, most of them Indonesians.

Unregistered pilgrims

Each year tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform the hajj through irregular channels as they cannot afford the often costly procedures for official hajj visas.

This places these off-the-books pilgrims at risk as they cannot access airconditioned facilities provided by Saudi authorities along the hajj route.

One of the diplomats who spoke to AFP on Tuesday said that the Egyptian death toll was “absolutely” boosted by a large number of unregistered Egyptian pilgrims.

“Irregular pilgrims caused great chaos in the Egyptian pilgrims’ camps, causing the collapse of services,” said an Egyptian official supervising the country’s hajj mission.

“The pilgrims went without food, water, or airconditioning for a long time.”

They died “from the heat because most people had no place” to take shelter.

Earlier this month, Saudi officials said they had cleared hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca ahead of the hajj.

Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdul Rahman Al-Jalajel said on Tuesday that health plans for the hajj had “been successfully carried out”, preventing major outbreaks of disease and other public health threats, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

Health officials “provided virtual consultations to over 5,800 pilgrims, primarily for heat-related illnesses, enabling prompt intervention and mitigating the potential for a surge in cases,” SPA said.

– with AFP