Heatwave in Saudi Arabia kills over a dozen Kurdish pilgrims at Haj

Heatwave in Saudi Arabia kills over a dozen Iraqi Kurdish pilgrims at Hajj — A Muslim pilgrim praying at Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat during the peak of the annual Hajj pilgrimage near the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on October 14, 2013. Photo: Reuters

ERBIL, Iraqi Kurdistan region,— At least nineteen Muslim pilgrims from the Iraqi Kurdistan region have died during the Muslim pilgrimage, Hajj, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, due to a severe heatwave, an official disclosed on Thursday.

“The death toll among our pilgrims this year has reached 19. Only one of them traveled to Saudi Arabia through the endowment ministry,” stated Rozhgar Jaafar, head of media for Iraqi Kurdistan’s Hajj delegation.

18 of the pilgrims were in Saudi Arabia on tourist visas.

The exact numbers remain uncertain, as officials have provided varying figures. Karwan Stuni, spokesperson for the Kurdistan’s Hajj and Umrah Board, stated that 13 Kurdish pilgrims have died, with 20 others reported missing.

Karwan Stoni, head of media in the Kurdistan Regional Government’s (KRG) endowment ministry, told AFP that pilgrims with official Hajj permits were not allowed entry into air-conditioned areas provided by Saudi authorities. Families reported that some pilgrims suffered from heatstroke, with temperatures in Mecca reaching 51.8 degrees Celsius and 46 degrees in nearby Mina.

Approximately 4,600 Kurdish pilgrims attended this year’s Hajj with official registration. However, most of the Kurdish pilgrims who died had entered Saudi Arabia on tourist visas, violating the kingdom’s regulations.

Pshtiwan Sadiq, KRG’s minister of endowment and religious affairs, estimated that between 5,000 and 7,000 Kurdish pilgrims traveled on tourist visas. He mentioned that their requests to Saudi officials to permit these pilgrims to perform the Hajj were denied.

The Hajj, an annual Islamic religious obligation for Muslims, attracts millions to Saudi Arabia. Pilgrims visit sacred sites, with the Kaaba in Mecca being the holiest in Islam.

Death Toll Tops 1,000 After Hajj Marked by Extreme Heat

The death toll from this year’s Hajj has surpassed 1,000, with more than half being unregistered worshippers who faced extreme heat in Saudi Arabia, according to an AFP tally on Thursday.

Among the new deaths reported were 58 from Egypt. An Arab diplomat disclosed that of the 658 total dead from Egypt, 630 were unregistered pilgrims.

Overall, about 1,081 deaths have been reported from around ten countries during the pilgrimage, a key Islamic obligation. These figures come from official statements and diplomats handling their countries’ responses.

This year’s Hajj, determined by the lunar Islamic calendar, coincided with the intense Saudi summer. The national meteorological center recorded a high of 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 degrees Fahrenheit) at the Grand Mosque in Mecca earlier this week.

A recent Saudi study indicated that temperatures in the region are rising by 0.4 degrees Celsius each decade. Every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims try to perform the Hajj through unofficial means, as they cannot afford the expensive official permits. Saudi authorities reported removing hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca earlier this month, yet many still participated in the main rites that began last Friday.

These unregistered pilgrims were more vulnerable to the heat, as they could not access air-conditioned spaces provided for the 1.8 million authorized pilgrims. One Arab diplomat noted that many were exhausted from being chased by security forces before Arafat day, a key part of the Hajj involving day-long outdoor prayers.

The principal cause of death among Egyptian pilgrims was the heat, which exacerbated conditions like high blood pressure. Deaths have also been reported from Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Jordan, Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, and Tunisia. Authorities in many cases have not specified the cause of death.

Friends and family members are searching for missing pilgrims, scouring hospitals and pleading online for news amid the scorching temperatures. Saudi Arabia has not disclosed details regarding the fatalities but did report more than 2,700 cases of “heat exhaustion” on Sunday alone.