Saudi Arabia puts death toll during Hajj due to extreme heat at 1,301

According to Saudi Arabia, 1,301 Muslim pilgrims died during the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which ended in early June due to extreme heat.

About 83 percent of the fatalities were unregistered pilgrims, Saudi Health Minister Fahd al-Jalajel said on Sunday, but did not provide a breakdown by the nationality of the victims.

The temperature in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca and other nearby holy sites was around 50 degrees Celsius until the last day of pilgrimage on Tuesday.

“The unregistered pilgrims walked long distances in the sun, without shelter or any opportunity to rest. Some of them were elderly and others suffered from chronic diseases,” al-Jalajel told Saudi state television al-Ekhbariya.

The official said the dead had no identification documents, so identifying them and contacting their families would take time.

Several Arab governments have said that most of the pilgrims who died in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, were unregistered and held tourist visas rather than the visas required for the hajj, making it more difficult to locate them or determine their true numbers.

Unregistered pilgrims usually do not have access to accommodation and transportation services.

About 1.8 million pilgrims took part in the Hajj this year. The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and an obligation that all Muslims must perform once in their lives, provided they have the financial and physical means to do so.