COMMENT | 900 deaths: Scorching heat makes Haj more risky

COMMENT | Each year, millions of Muslims from across the world embark on the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The mass migration is unparalleled in scale and pilgrims face numerous health hazards.

Mecca is considered the holiest city for Muslims and Haj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam, making it a mandatory religious duty for Muslims to perform at least once in their lifetime if they are physically and financially capable.

The 2024 Haj pilgrimage has been overshadowed by disaster/tragedy, with the death of at least 900 pilgrims, mostly due to heat exhaustion and related complications.

This isn’t the first deadly disaster during Haj.

One of the most devastating incidents occurred in 2015 during the ritual of “Rami al-Jamarat” in Mina, near Mecca. This ritual involves pilgrims throwing stones at pillars symbolising the devil. On that day, overcrowding and the movement of large groups of pilgrims in opposite directions led to a deadly crowd crush. More than 2,400 pilgrims lost their lives, making it one of the deadliest disasters in the history of Haj or any mass gathering...