Friends and family members searched frantically for missing Hajj pilgrims as the death toll from the annual religious rituals in the extreme heat surpassed 900. Temperatures in Makkah soared to 51.8°C, raising serious concerns for the 1.8 million participants, many of whom are elderly.
The majority of fatalities have been reported among Egyptians, with 600 deaths directly attributed to the intense heat. Among the missing pilgrims are Mabrouka bint Salem Shushana and Ghada Mahmoud Ahmed Dawood, whose families are desperately seeking any information about their whereabouts.
Social media platforms have been inundated with appeals from worried relatives and friends seeking news about their loved ones. The Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, has increasingly faced challenges from rising temperatures due to climate change, making the pilgrimage even more perilous.
Saudi authorities have reported a large number of heat exhaustion cases among the pilgrims, although they have not yet provided an official count of the overall fatalities.
This year’s Hajj has been particularly difficult, with the extreme weather conditions exacerbating the already strenuous journey for the pilgrims. The situation has highlighted the urgent need for enhanced measures to protect participants from the dangers of extreme heat in the future.
