Hajj pilgrim death toll passes 1,000 after brutal 50C heatwave hit world’s largest gathering of Muslims in Saudi Arabia

The death toll at the hajj pilgrim has exceeded 1,000, according to reports, as a brutal heatwave has seen temperatures topping 50C at the world’s biggest gathering of Muslims in Saudi Arabia.

Horrifying pictures show bodies being covered and left in the street after they fell victim to the soaring temperatures, while many others suffered severe heatstroke and had to be urgently rushed inside.

Unregistered pilgrims make up more than half of those who have perished, with many unable to access air-conditioned facilities and help from authorities.

The new deaths reported today include 58 from Egypt, according to an Arab diplomat who provided a breakdown showing that of 658 total dead from that country, 630 were unregistered. 

A British Imam described the scenes as ‘harrowing’ and said that it was impossible for pilgrims to walk through the streets and not to see people suffering from the heat. 

A man, suffering from apparent heatstroke, is helped by another Muslim pilgrim earlier this week

Muslim pilgrims use umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun as they arrive at the base of Mount Arafat, also known as Jabal al-Rahma or Mount of Mercy, during the hajj pilgrimage

‘There are so many stories from the pilgrims who are with me about what they saw in the streets, particularly last Sunday,’ he told the BBC on Sunday.

‘As you were walking, you could not walk 20 yards except you would see someone struggling in the heat. 

‘People were doing whatever they could to shade themselves, they were taking water from kind individuals who were giving them towels, they were taking shade in hotel receptions.

‘It was harrowing at times, I’ve never seen so many people struggle collectively.’

He went on to say that while authorities had been on hand to help, they need to learn lessons from the awful scenes caused by the extreme heat, made worse by overcrowding.

Around 1.8 million pilgrims took part in the hajj this year, 1.6 million of them from abroad, according to Saudi authorities. 

Each year tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform the hajj through irregular channels as they cannot afford the often costly procedures for official hajj visas.

This places these off-the-books pilgrims at risk as they cannot access air-conditioned facilities provided by Saudi authorities along the hajj route.

Rescuers carry away a man, affected by the scorching heat, on a stretcher

Around 1.8 million pilgrims took part in the hajj this year, 1.6 million of them from abroad, according to Saudi authorities

Muslim pilgrims walk under mist dispensers, which Saudi authorities have set up to try to keep people cool

‘I think the Saudi authorities perhaps do need to start thinking about controlling the numbers of how many pilgrims come each and every year,’ the British Imam said.

‘With climate change, with the fact that the pilgrimage happens in the summer months, they really need to look into this in more detail.’ 

The pilgrimage is increasingly affected by climate change, according to a Saudi study published last month that said temperatures in the area where rituals are performed were rising 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.72 degrees Fahrenheit) each decade.

Temperatures hit 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Monday, the Saudi national meteorology centre said.

Saudi officials had advised pilgrims to use umbrellas, drink plenty of water and avoid exposure to the sun, with curfews reportedly put in place at camps telling people not to leave their tents during the hottest hours of the day.

But many of the hajj rituals, including the prayers on Mount Arafat which took place on Saturday, involve being outdoors for hours in the daytime

Fortunately in the coming years the Hajj, the date of which comes 11 days earlier in the Islamic calendar every year, is set to fall in the winter, when temperatures are milder.

Muslim devotees walk around the Kaaba, Islam’s holiest shrine, at the Grand Mosque in Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca on June 13, 2024

Pilgrim deaths are reported every year, not only due to heat but also the difficulty of the walk and the sheer amount of people who undertake it. 

The deadliest incident ever recorded at the pilgrimage was in 2015, when a stampede in the Mina camp killed over 2,400 pilgrims. Saudi Arabia has never acknowledged the full toll of the stampede. 

A separate crane collapse at Mecca’s Grand Mosque, which preceded the Mina disaster, killed 111 people.

The second-deadliest incident at Hajj was a 1990 stampede that killed 1,426 people.