Muslim pilgrims with umbrellas stroll on the third day of the stoning ritual of Devil, amid extraordinarily sizzling climate, in the course of the annual Haj pilgrimage, in Mina, Saudi Arabia, on June 18, 2024. | Picture credit score: Reuters
A diplomat in Saudi Arabia stated on June 19 that 68 Indian residents died throughout this yr’s haj pilgrimage marked by scorching well being, bringing the entire toll to greater than 600.
“We’ve got confirmed round 68 deaths… Some are from pure causes and now we have had many aged pilgrims. And a few are because of climate circumstances, that is what we assume,” stated the diplomat, who spoke on situation of anonymity. AFP.
The brand new toll comes after two Arab diplomats stated AFP On Tuesday, 550 deaths had been recorded in the course of the Haj, one of many 5 pillars of Islam that each Muslim with the means should carry out a minimum of as soon as.
That quantity included 323 Egyptians and 60 Jordanians, Arab diplomats stated, with one saying that just about all the Egyptians died “due to the warmth.”
Deaths have additionally been confirmed in Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia and the autonomous Kurdistan area of Iraq, though in lots of circumstances authorities haven’t specified the trigger.
The whole variety of deaths reported up to now is 645, in accordance with a AFP account.
Final yr, greater than 200 pilgrims had been reported lifeless, most of them from Indonesia.
Saudi Arabia has not offered data on deaths, though it reported greater than 2,700 circumstances of “warmth exhaustion” on Sunday alone.
The diplomat who confirmed the Indian deaths stated there have been additionally some lacking Indian pilgrims, however declined to offer a precise quantity. “This occurs yearly… We will not say this yr is abnormally excessive,” he stated.
“It is sort of much like final yr, however we’ll know extra within the coming days.”
For the previous few years, the hajj has fallen in the course of the sweltering Saudi summer time.
Based on a Saudi research printed final month, temperatures within the space the place the rituals happen rise by 0.4 levels Celsius (0.72 levels Fahrenheit) each decade.
