Over 1,000 pilgrims died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, officials say

CAIRO — More than 1,000 people died during This year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as worshipers faced extremely high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, officials said Sunday.

More than half of the dead were people from Egypt, according to two officials in Cairo. Egypt revoked the licenses of 16 travel agencies that helped unauthorized pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia, officials said.

Saudi Arabia has not commented on the deaths during the pilgrimage, which is required of every capable Muslim once in his life.

The Egyptian government announced the deaths of 31 authorized pilgrims due to chronic illnesses during this year’s Hajj, but did not offer an official count of other pilgrims. Egypt sent more than 50,000 authorized pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this year, the government said.

However, a cabinet official said at least 630 other Egyptians died during the pilgrimage, most of whom were reported at the Emergency Complex in Mecca’s Al-Muaisem neighborhood. Confirming the count, an Egyptian diplomat said most of the dead have been buried in Saudi Arabia.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists.

Saudi authorities cracked down on unauthorized pilgrims and expelled tens of thousands of people. But many, mostly Egyptians, managed to reach the holy sites in and around Mecca, some on foot. Unlike authorized pilgrims, they had no hotels to escape the scorching heat.

In its statement, the government said the 16 travel agencies failed to provide adequate services to pilgrims. He said these agencies illegally facilitated the travel of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia using visas that do not allow their holders to travel to Mecca.

The government also said company officials have been referred to the prosecutor for investigations.

According to the state-run Al-Ahram newspaper, some travel agencies and Hajj tour operators sold Saudi tourist visas to Egyptian Hajj hopefuls, violating Saudi regulations requiring exclusive visas for pilgrims. Those agencies left pilgrims in limbo at Mecca and holy sites amid scorching heat, the newspaper said.

The deaths also include 165 pilgrims from Indonesia, 98 from India and dozens more from Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Malaysia, according to an Associated Press tally. The deaths of two American pilgrims were also reported.

The AP could not independently confirm the cause of death, but some countries such as Jordan and Tunisia blamed increased heat. Saudi officials did not respond to questions seeking more information.

Associated Press journalists saw pilgrims fainting from the scorching heat during the Hajj, especially on the second and third days. Some vomited and collapsed.

Deaths are not uncommon in the Hajj, where at times more than 2 million people have traveled to Saudi Arabia for a five-day pilgrimage. The history of the pilgrimage has also witnessed deadly stampedes and epidemics.

But this year’s figure was unusually high, suggesting exceptional circumstances.

In 2015, a stampede in Mina killed more than 2,400 pilgrims., the deadliest incident ever to occur on the pilgrimage, according to an AP account. Saudi Arabia has never acknowledged the full cost of the stampede. Another crane collapse at the Grand Mosque in Mecca Earlier that same year he killed 111.

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

During this year’s Hajj period, daily maximum temperatures ranged between 46 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit) and 49 degrees Celsius (120 degrees Fahrenheit) in Mecca and holy sites in and around the city, according to the National Center Saudi Meteorology. Some people fainted while trying to perform the symbolic stoning of the devil.

The Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is one of the largest religious gatherings in the world. More than 1.83 million Muslims performed the Hajj in 2024, including more than 1.6 million from 22 countries and around 222,000 Saudi citizens and residents, according to Saudi Hajj authorities.

Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on crowd control and security measures for those attending the annual five-day pilgrimage, but the sheer number of participants makes it difficult to ensure their safety.

Climate change could make the risk even greater. A 2019 study by experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that even if the world manages to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, the Hajj would take place in temperatures that would exceed an “extreme danger threshold” from 2047 to 2052. and from 2079 to 2086.

Islam follows a lunar calendar, so the Hajj is brought forward about 11 days each year. By 2029, the Hajj will take place in April, and for several years afterward it will fall in winter, when temperatures are milder.