Official death toll over 1,300
Saudi authorities announced that as of last week, the number of deaths during the regular Islamic pilgrimage, Hajj, held amid the heat wave was estimated at over 1,300.
It is reported that 8 out of 10 people who died were unregistered pilgrims who did not receive pilgrimage permission from the authorities and suffered misfortune while walking long distances without proper rest or recovery.
The midday temperature under the blazing sun approached 52 degrees.
This heat continued around the Hajj, the regular Islamic pilgrimage, and pilgrims were exposed to the heat throughout the six-day Hajj.
Saudi Arabian authorities officially announced that 1,301 people died from heat-related illnesses during the Hajj period.
This is more than six times more than the number of deaths last year.
This is the first time that official figures regarding deaths during this year’s pilgrimage have been released.
Saudi authorities explained that many of the deceased did not have identification cards, making it difficult to verify their identities.
Hajj is one of the five major obligations of a Muslim, who must make a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia’s Mecca and Medina once in his life.
Saudi authorities are limiting the number of participants through a country-by-country quota system.
However, because these costs are prohibitive, the number of people entering the country with a tourist visa and then making pilgrimages to sacred sites without permission is increasing.
In the case of unregistered people, the damage is said to have increased as they refused medical services for fear of being caught by the authorities.
Meanwhile, among the dead, the largest number were from Egypt, with about 600 people.
As the damage increased, the Egyptian government revoked the licenses of 16 travel agencies that arranged Hajj trips and began a prosecutorial investigation into the managers.
by 토토사이트