Greater than 1,300 pilgrims have died throughout this yr’s hajj resulting from extraordinarily excessive temperatures, Saudi Arabia’s Well being Minister Fazad Al-Jalajel introduced, clarifying that the majority didn’t have permits to attend the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
“Sadly, the loss of life toll stands at 1,301, of which 83% weren’t given permission to carry out Hajj.
That they had traveled lengthy distances beneath the solar, with out correct shelter or facilities,” the official Saudi Press Company reported.
Among the many victims have been many aged individuals and others affected by persistent illnesses.
Safety and medical sources informed Reuters right now that the Egyptian loss of life toll had risen to 672, with one other 25 lacking.
On the identical time, Egyptian authorities ordered the revocation of the licenses of 16 journey firms and the referral of their heads to prosecutors for “fraud”, on the cost that they’d allowed pilgrims to journey, with out having the required permission, to Mecca for this yr’s hajj .
Egyptian Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli “ordered the licenses of those companies to be revoked, their managers to be referred to prosecutors and fined for the advantage of the households of the pilgrims who died due to their actions,” the prime minister’s workplace stated.
Excessive warmth in Mecca
Cairo’s resolution comes after a whole bunch of pilgrims died throughout this yr’s hajj, which befell this summer time within the area, the place temperatures are among the many hottest on the planet: the mercury reached 51.8°C in Mecca, the holiest place of islam.
Greater than half of the individuals who traveled for the hajj have been unregistered pilgrims, that means they’d not obtained permission to be on this yr’s pilgrimage.
Every year, tens of hundreds of worshipers try and take part within the pilgrimage with out acquiring the mandatory permits, that are paid for and granted in response to quotas, giving entry primarily to air-conditioned services.
Yesterday, a senior Saudi official defended the Sunni kingdom’s dealing with of this yr’s hajj – which formally ended on Wednesday. “The state didn’t fail, however there was a misjudgment on the a part of the individuals who didn’t calculate the potential dangers,” the official informed AFP. “This occurred in tough climate situations and really excessive temperatures,” he added.
In early June, Saudi Arabia introduced that its forces had pushed again greater than 300,000 unregistered pilgrims from Mecca, together with 153,998 foreigners who entered the dominion on vacationer visas with out acquiring permission from approved, official channels.
Nevertheless, it seems that a lot of pilgrims with out permission managed to take part within the rituals which befell for days, in significantly tough situations.
The Hajj, one of many world’s largest non secular gatherings, is without doubt one of the 5 pillars of Islam, and believers who’re in a position should make the good pilgrimage at the very least as soon as of their lifetime.
Hajj permits are allotted to international locations in response to a quota system.
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