Sweltering heat wave during Mecca pilgrimage: at least 14 Jordanians die from heatstroke

At least 14 Jordanians He died of heatstroke during a heat wave while on a pilgrimage to Meccawhile the temperature is between 45 and 48 degrees 17 others are missingJordan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates gave this information on Sunday.

In a statement, the Director of Operations and Consular Affairs, Ambassador Sufyan al-Qudahsaid the ministry is following procedures with the competent Saudi authorities to bury the pilgrims and transfer the bodies of those whose relatives wish to transfer them to Jordan as soon as possible.

Likewise, he said that the search for 17 missing pilgrims was still ongoing and specified that these, as well as the deceased, were not part of the Jordanian citizens registered in the official Jordanian delegation attending Hajj this year.

One of the challenges facing Hajj this year is the heat, because, as officials warn, The temperature ranges between 45 and 48 °C with high humidity rates.

Highest temperature recorded during last year’s pilgrimage -In which more than 1.8 million devotees participated- These resulted in more than 8,000 cases of fatigue and heatstroke, according to the Saudi Health Ministry.

In addition, it involves the participation of about two million pilgrims from all over the world Heavy crowd There have been stampedes in previous years, claiming the lives of hundreds of pilgrims, as in 2006, when 365 people were killed.

To avoid these tragedies, Saudi Arabia promotes use of advanced technology this year Offering qualitative changes in the organisation and management of important religious events, such as the use of intelligent robots to guide pilgrims and improve security or the installation of facial recognition cameras to locate missing people.

Muslim pilgrims begin final Hajj rites

Huge numbers of pilgrims turned out in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to symbolically stone the devil. The ritual marks the final days of the Hajj, or Islamic pilgrimage, and the start of Eid al-Adha celebrations for Muslims around the world.

Stoning is one of the final rites of the Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam.It came a day after more than 1.8 million pilgrims gathered at the sacred hill called Mount Ararat on the outskirts of the holy city of Mecca, where Muslim pilgrims travel to perform the annual five-day Hajj ritual.

Pilgrims left Mount Arafat on Saturday night to spend the night at a nearby place called Muzdalifah, where they collected pebbles to use in the symbolic stoning of pillars representing Satan.

These pillars are located in another sacred place in Mecca, called Minawhere Muslims believe that Ibrahim’s faith was tested when God ordered him to sacrifice his only son, Ishmael. Ibrahim was ready to obey the order, but then God stayed his hand, sparing his son. In Christian and Jewish versions of the story, Abraham is ordered to kill his other son, Isaac.

On Sunday morning, the crowd headed towards the stone-pelting areas on foot. Some people were seen pushing disabled pilgrims in wheelchairs on the multi-lane road leading to the massive pillared complex. Most pilgrims were seen suffocating and carrying umbrellas to protect themselves from the scorching summer sun.

A reporter from The Associated Press He saw many pilgrims, especially the elderly, collapse along the pillars’ path due to the scorching heat. Security forces and medics were deployed to help, carrying those who fainted on stretchers to ambulances or field hospitals to save them from the heat.

Many pilgrims spend up to three days at Mina, each throwing seven pebbles at the three pillars in a ritual symbolizing the expulsion of evil and sin.

While in Mina, they will head to Mecca to perform their final “tawaf,” or circumambulation, which involves circling the Kaaba in the Grand Mosque seven times counterclockwise. The farewell tawaf marks the end of the Hajj as pilgrims prepare to leave the holy city.

The ritual coincides with the four-day Eid al-Adha, meaning “Feast of Sacrifice,” when wealthy Muslims commemorate the test of Ibrahim’s faith through the sacrifice of livestock and animals and the distribution of meat to the poor.

Most countries celebrate Eid al-Adha on Sunday, others such as Indonesia will celebrate it on Monday.

Once the Hajj is over, men are expected to shave their heads and remove the white clothing worn during the pilgrimage, and women are expected to cut off a lock of their hair as a sign of renewal and rebirth.

Most pilgrims depart from Mecca for the city of MedinaMuslims travel to Mecca, about 340 kilometres (210 mi) away, to pray in the sacred chamber, the tomb of the Prophet Muhammad. The tomb is part of the Prophet’s Mosque, one of the three holiest sites in Islam along with the Great Mosque in Mecca and the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

It is mandatory for all Muslims to perform Hajj once in their lifetime if they are physically and financially able to do so. Many wealthy Muslims make the pilgrimage more than once. According to the Quran, Islam’s holy book, the rituals largely recount the stories of the Prophet Ibrahim and his son, the Prophet Ismail, Ismail’s mother Hajar, and the Prophet Muhammad.

More than 1.83 million Muslims will perform Hajj in 2024, slightly lower than last year’s figures, when 1.84 million performed the ritual, Saudi Hajj and Umrah Minister Tawfiq bin Fauzan al-Rabiah said in a briefing.

Most hajj rituals are performed outside with little or no shade. It is scheduled for the second week of Dhu al-Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic lunar calendar, so its time of year varies. And this year the pilgrimage fell in Saudi Arabia’s sweltering summer. The heat rose to 47°C (116.6°F) on Mount Arafat on Saturday.

This year’s Hajj took place against the backdrop of a devastating war between Israel and Hamas, which has brought the Middle East to the brink of regional conflict.

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were unable to travel to Mecca for the hajj this year because of the closure of the Rafah crossing in May, when Israel escalated its ground invasion of the city on the Egyptian border. And they will not be able to celebrate Eid al-Adha as they have in previous years.

Dozens of Palestinians gathered on Sunday morning to perform Eid prayers near a destroyed mosque in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis.. In the nearby town of Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, Muslims prayed at a school converted into a shelter. Some, including women and children, went to cemeteries to visit the graves of their loved ones.

“Today, after the ninth month, there are more than 37,000 martyred, more than 87,000 injured and hundreds of thousands of homes destroyed,” displaced Palestinian Abdulhalim Abu Samra told the AP after concluding prayers in Khan Younis. “Our people live in difficult conditions.”

Sudan also faces a conflict between rival generals that has raged unabated for 14 months. The conflict has killed thousands and caused the world’s biggest displacement crisis, with more than 10 million people forced to flee their homes.

(With information from EFE and AP)