Hajj Saudi Arabia: At least 68 Indian nationals died during the hajj pilgrimage this year marked by severe heat, bringing the overall tally to more than 600, a diplomat in Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday. "We have confirmed around 68 dead... Some are because of natural causes and we had many old-age pilgrims. And some are due to the weather conditions, that's what we assume," the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.
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Earlier on Tuesday, reports citing Arab diplomats indicated a total of 550 deaths during Hajj, including 323 Egyptians and 60 Jordanians, primarily due to the extreme heat. Fatalities have also been confirmed by Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia, and Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, though in many cases the cause has not been specified by authorities. According to an AFP tally, the total number of reported deaths so far is 645.
Last year, over 200 pilgrims were reported dead, with most of them being from Indonesia. While Saudi Arabia has not provided information on fatalities, it reported over 2,700 cases of "heat exhaustion" on Sunday alone. The diplomat who confirmed the Indian fatalities also mentioned that some Indian pilgrims were missing but declined to provide an exact number.
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"This happens every year... We can't say that it is abnormally high this year," he said. "It's somewhat similar to last year but we will know more in the coming days," he added.
For the past several years, the hajj has taken place during the scorching Saudi summer. A Saudi study published last month indicates that temperatures in the area where the rituals are performed are increasing by 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.72 degrees Fahrenheit) each decade, AFP reported.