More than two hundred foreigners died in the heat of Mecca

Based on reports of heat-related deaths and illnesses, many may have died from the scorching heat during the annual Muslim Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, which began last Friday. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims gathered in and around Islam's holiest city at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Tuesday, as temperatures soared to nearly 52 degrees Celsius that day, Saudi state media said.

According to reports from their home countries, more than two hundred foreign pilgrims have lost their lives so far.

Most of the dead, 144, were Indonesians, but Senegalese, Iranian, Tunisian and Jordanian news agencies and ministries also reported the deaths of several of their nationals. Most reports do not state whether the deaths were due to heat stroke or other severe heat-related illness. On the other hand, many people reported on social media that one of their family members fell victim to the heat during Hajj.

According to Saudi sources, more than 2,700 pilgrims have had to be treated for heat symptoms in the country so far this year, but health authorities have not noticed an increase in the number of deaths and diseases resulting from high temperature compared to last year. Previous years.

More than 1.8 million pilgrims visited Mecca last year, about 90 percent of whom came from abroad. Many people wait years to access Hajj because permits are always issued by the Kingdom's leadership based on quotas for each country. The authorities recorded more than ten thousand cases of heat-related illness during the 2023 Hajj season, ten percent of which were heatstroke.

Many tragedies have occurred at this event in the past. In recent years, the authorities have made significant improvements, within which artificial intelligence is already being used to ensure the safety and smooth movement of crowds, MTI reported.