More than half of the victims were “irregular” pilgrims who were not registered. The highest death toll is among Egyptians, but also among citizens of Indonesia, Malaysia and Pakistan. In the future, the risk of a new escalation due to progressive global warming.
Riyadh () – More than the fears of the war in Gaza and the risks related to crowds in holy places, which in the past have been a source of fatal accidents with a (sometimes) very high toll, this year the enemy Number one for pilgrims who come to Mecca for the Hajj is the heat. According to a report published this morning by the AFP Based on the data provided by the respective countries, so far more than a thousand people have died who were participating in the major pilgrimage to the sacred places of Islam these days. Riyadh has not yet provided an official death toll – Egypt paid the highest price with 658 deaths from heat and sunstroke – but it points out that the vast majority (at least 630) were irregulars who had not registered and did not have a permit. to participate.
In 2023 there were about 240 victims among Muslims who went to Mecca for the major pilgrimage, a religious event that has always been characterized by accidents and deaths. Communicable diseases such as SARS, avian flu and meningitis have posed significant threats in the past. In addition, every year tens of thousands of pilgrims try to perform the Hajj without registering or “clandestinely” because they cannot afford official permits, which are generally very expensive. Saudi authorities reported that they expelled hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca earlier this month, but many apparently managed to avoid arrest by joining the rest of the pilgrims since the first rites last Friday.
This group of “irregulars” is also more vulnerable to heat and high temperatures because, as they do not have official permits, they cannot access the air-conditioned spaces that the organizers make available for the more than 1.8 million authorized pilgrims. They can refresh themselves after walking for so many hours and praying outdoors. “People were tired after being persecuted by security forces before Arafat Day. They were exhausted,” an Arab diplomat said yesterday, referring to the June 15 open-air prayers that mark the climax of the Hajj. The main cause of death among pilgrims was heat, which triggered complications related to high blood pressure and other cardiovascular problems. The governments of Malaysia, Pakistan, India, Jordan, Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia and the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan have also confirmed deaths.
Complicating the picture is the fact that in 2024 the Hajj, whose date is set according to the Islamic lunar calendar, has fallen during the torrid Saudi summer. The national meteorological center recorded a maximum temperature of 51.8 degrees Celsius earlier this week at the Grand Mosque in Mecca. Furthermore, according to a Saudi study published last month, temperatures in the area are increasing by 0.4 degrees Celsius every decade, with the prospect that they will be even more critical in the future.
The calendar is determined by the lunar year, which is why the pilgrimage is delayed 10 days each year. And if the trend for the coming years is to move towards winter, in 2040 there will be a new peak in summer that could be “fatal”, as Fahad Saeed, climate scientist at Climate Analytics based in Pakistan, explains. Heat-related deaths during the pilgrimage to Mecca are nothing new and have always been recorded since the 15th century. The lack of acclimatization to high temperatures, intense physical effort, open spaces and the elderly population make pilgrims vulnerable. So much so that, according to Saudi officials, more than 2,000 people suffered from heat stress last year and the situation will worsen as the planet warms.
According to a 2021 study published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, if the world warms 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the risk of heat stroke for pilgrims participating in the Hajj will be five times greater. That is why the current deaths are a preview of what will happen to the tens of millions of Muslims who perform the pilgrimage in the coming decades. “It has been carried out in a certain way for more than a thousand years and the climate has always been warm,” said Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, scientific advisor at the German Climate Analytics Institute. “But… the climate crisis is increasing the severity of conditions.” And also some rituals, he concludes, such as the ritual climbing of Mount Arafat, have become “extremely dangerous for human health.”
Add Comment