Bodies on the ground’: Why so many pilgrims died during hajj

After years of failing to secure a hajj visa, Yasser finally concluded he had no choice but to perform the holy pilgrimage illegally, a move he now regrets.

While he survived the gruelling annual rites that unfolded in extreme heat again this year, he has not seen his wife since Sunday. And he fears she is among the more than 1,000 reported fatalities — the majority unregistered Egyptians like himself.

“I have searched every single hospital in Mecca. She’s not there,” the 60-year-old retired engineer told AFP on Friday by phone from his hotel room.

He is reluctant to pack his wife’s suitcase in hopes she will return to do it herself.

“I don’t want to believe in this possibility that she’s dead. Because if she’s dead, it’s the end of her life and also the end of my life,” he added.

Egypt accounts for more than half of this year’s hajj fatalities. The country make up 658 out of more than 1,000 deaths reported as of Friday by around 10 countries.

Unregistered

An Arab diplomat told AFP that 630 of those 658 dead Egyptians were unregistered. It means they could not rely on access to amenities that make the pilgrimage more bearable.

That included air-conditioned tents meant to offer some relief. Temperatures soared to as high as 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam.

In the first Saudi comment on the deaths, a senior official told AFP that 577 people died on the hajj’s two main days on Saturday and Sunday. The overall toll was still being compiled.

“The state did not fail. But there was a misjudgment on the part of people who did not appreciate the risks,” the official said.