Around 68 Indians are among scores of those who have died during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca amid the scorching heat, a diplomat told news agency AFP. On Tuesday, AFP reported that at least 550 people have died on the Hajj pilgrimage. Out of those, 323 were Egyptians who died due to heat-related illness, the international news agency reported citing two Arab diplomats. According to Saudi media reports, temperatures rose to 51.8 degree Celsius in the shade at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Monday. Before the death reports were issued, the authorities had not noticed any unusual fatalities among Muslim pilgrims amid the extremely high temperatures, a Saudi health official told Reuters. While Saudi has not officially released the number of deaths, several countries have said some of their pilgrims died due to the heat that swept across the holy sites at Mecca, including Jordan and Tunisia, AP report said. Security seemed stringent at the medical complex in Mecca. An official read out names of the dead and their nationalities, which included people from Algeria, Egypt and India. Those who said they were kin of the dead were only permitted inside the medical complex. The AP report added that onlookers saw some people faint during the symbolic stoning of the devil. The Hajj, an annual pilgrimage, began on Friday and annually millions of Muslims head to Mecca to perform religious rites as taught by the Prophet Mohammad to his followers 14 centuries ago. The mass gathering - once-in-a-lifetime duty for able-bodied Muslims ended on Wednesday. Thousands of pilgrims from low-income nations flock to Mecca annually, “many of whom have had little, if any, pre-Hajj health care,” an article in the April edition of the Journal of Infection and Public Health said. The paper said communicable diseases can spread among the gathered pilgrims, who are mainly elderly with pre-exiting health conditions and have come with their entire live savings for the pilgrimage. This year, more than 1.83 million Muslims performed the Hajj including more than 1.6 million pilgrims from 22 countries and around 222,000 Saudi citizens and residents, AP reported citing Saudi Hajj authorities. 2025 will be the last Hajj in summer As Islam follows lunar calender, the Hajj spans around 11 days earlier each year. Hussein Al-Qahtani, spokesman of the Saudi National Meteorological Center (NMC) was quoted as saying by Saudi Gazette that next year's Hajj will be the last Hajj in the summer season. “The Hajj season will enter a new phase of climate change during the year 2026. We will not witness summer Hajj until after 17 years,” Qahtani said.
