The death toll during this year's Hajj has exceeded 1,000, a AFP According to the count on Thursday, more than half of them were unregistered worshipers who performed the pilgrimage amid extreme heat in Saudi Arabia.
The new deaths reported Thursday included 58 from Egypt, according to an Arab diplomat who provided a breakdown showing that of that country's total of 658 deaths, 630 were unregistered.
In total, some 10 countries have reported 1,081 deaths during the annual pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam that every Muslim of means must complete at least once.
The figures come from official statements or from diplomats working on their countries' responses.
The Hajj, whose calendar is determined by the Islamic lunar calendar, fell again this year during the oven-like Saudi summer.
The national meteorological center reported a high temperature of 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit) earlier this week at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
According to a Saudi study published last month, temperatures in the area are increasing by 0.4 degrees Celsius every decade.
Every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform the Hajj through irregular channels as they cannot afford expensive official permits.
Saudi authorities reported expelling hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca earlier this month, but many still appear to have participated in the main rituals that began last Friday.
This group was more vulnerable to the heat because, without official permits, they could not access the air-conditioned spaces provided by Saudi authorities for the 1.8 million authorized pilgrims to cool off after hours of walking and praying outdoors.
“People were tired after being chased by security forces before Arafat Day. They were exhausted,” said one Arab diplomat. AFP on Thursday, referring to the open-air Saturday prayers that marked the climax of the Hajj.
The diplomat stated that the main cause of death among Egyptian pilgrims was heat, which caused complications related to high blood pressure and other problems.
In addition to Egypt, Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Jordan, Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia and the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan have also confirmed deaths, although in many cases authorities have not specified the cause.
Friends and family have been searching for the pilgrims who are still missing.
On Wednesday they toured hospitals and asked for news online, fearing the worst during the scorching temperatures.
Saudi Arabia has not provided information on deaths, although it reported more than 2,700 cases of “heat exhaustion” on Sunday alone.
