More than 1,300 people died during this year’s hajj pilgrimage to Muslim holy sites in Saudi Arabia as temperatures soared well into the triple digits, the Saudi health minister said on Sunday.
Temperatures reached a high of 125 degrees during the height of the five-day pilgrimage, which began on June 14 and focused on the holy city of Mecca.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) estimated that more than half of the deaths were unregistered pilgrims, citing a Saudi official. Unregistered pilgrims do not have access to cooling infrastructure and other facilities to survive the extreme temperatures.
Saudi officials have expelled tens of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca, although AFP reported that around 400,000 unregistered pilgrims performed the hajj this year.
About half of the deaths, at least 630 people, were Egyptians, an Egyptian cabinet official told The Associated Press (AP).
The fatalities also included 165 pilgrims from Indonesia, 98 from India and dozens of others from Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Malaysia, according to an AP tally. Two American pilgrims were also reported dead.
The causes of death have not been made public, but it is believed most died of heat-related complications. AP reported that its journalists witnessed many pilgrims fainting and collapsing during the Hajj.
Deaths are not uncommon during the Hajj due to the sheer number of people who flock to Saudi holy sites, although this year’s death toll is exceptionally high. The pilgrimage has also suffered deadly epidemics and stampedes in recent years, including a 2015 stampede that killed an estimated 2,400 people.
Saudi officials said 1.86 million people performed the hajj this year. The pilgrimage, considered one of the pillars of Islam, is an obligatory ritual at least once during a Muslim’s life.
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