Search for missing pilgrims continues after heat-related deaths during Hajj | Saudi Arabia

Friends and family members of missing hajj pilgrims searched hospitals and pleaded online for news, fearing the worst after hundreds of people died during the annual rituals in Saudi Arabia.

Arab diplomats told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday that at least 550 pilgrims had died this year, the majority from heat-related illnesses after temperatures reached 51.8 degrees Celsius in Mecca, Islam’s holiest city.

The total number of people killed so far is 645, according to an AFP count of various countries. About 1.8 million people took part in the pilgrimage.

Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and every Muslim who has the means must perform it at least once. The date of Hajj is determined by the Islamic lunar calendar and moves forward every year in the Gregorian calendar.

In recent years, the rituals have mostly taken place outdoors during the scorching Saudi summer. According to a Saudi study published last month, temperatures in the region are rising by 0.4 degrees Celsius every decade.

Human-induced climate change is causing every heatwave in the world to become more intense and more likely.

According to the Saudi National Center for Metrology, the scorching sun and oppressive heat were relentless in Mecca and at holy sites in and around the city on Tuesday.

Many pilgrims, especially the elderly, collapsed and required medical attention due to the heat.

Mabrouka bint Salem Shushana from Tunisia, in her early 70s, has been missing since the peak of the pilgrimage at Mount Arafat on Saturday, her husband Mohammed told AFP on Wednesday.

Because she was unregistered and did not have an official hajj permit, she did not have access to air-conditioned facilities where pilgrims can cool off after hours of prayers outdoors, Mohammed said. “She is an old woman. She was tired. She was so hot and had no place to sleep. I looked for her in all the hospitals. Until now, I have no idea.”

He is not the only one desperately searching for information. Facebook and other social networks are flooded with pictures of the missing people and requests for information.

Searchers also include family and friends of Ghada Mahmoud Ahmed Dawood, an Egyptian pilgrim who has been missing since Saturday. “I received a call from her daughter in Egypt, begging me to post any post on Facebook that can help track her down or find her,” said a family friend in Saudi Arabia, who asked not to be identified because he did not want to upset Saudi authorities.

“The good news is that we have not found her on the dead list yet, which gives us hope that she is still alive.”

The 550 death toll that diplomats gave on Tuesday came from the morgue of a hospital in Mecca’s al-Muaisem district, one of the city’s largest. Among them were 323 Egyptians and 60 Jordanians, said the Arab diplomats who briefed AFP on the figures. One of them noted that almost all of the Egyptians died “due to the heat.”

Deaths have also been confirmed in Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, but authorities have not specified the cause of death in many cases.

On Wednesday, an Asian diplomat told AFP that there were “around 68 dead” from India and more were missing. “Some died of natural causes and we had many elderly pilgrims with us. And for some, we assume the weather conditions are the reason,” he said.

Saudi Arabia has not released any figures on deaths, but reported more than 2,700 cases of “heat exhaustion” on Sunday alone. Last year, more than 200 pilgrims died, most of them from Indonesia.

Every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims try to perform the hajj illegally because they cannot afford the often costly official permits. This has become easier since 2019, when Saudi Arabia introduced a general tourist visa, says Umer Karim, an expert on Saudi politics at the University of Birmingham.

“In the past, only residents of the kingdom could do this, and they know the situation,” he said. “For these people with tourist visas, it is as if they are on the migrant route and have no idea what to expect.”

Even pilgrims with official permits can be at risk. Houria Ahmad Abdallah Sharif, a 70-year-old Egyptian pilgrim, has been missing since Saturday. After praying on Mount Arafat, she told a friend she wanted to go to a public toilet to clean her abaya, but she never came back.

“We have been looking for her door to door and have not found her,” said the friend, who also wished to remain anonymous. He added: “We know many who are still looking for their family members and relatives and cannot find them, or if they do find them, they find them dead.”

Agence France-Presse contributed to this report