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‘Nobody is picking up the dead bodies’: Extreme heat sees hajj death toll rise • FRANCE 24 English

  • June 21, 2024



‘Nobody is picking up the dead bodies’: Extreme heat sees hajj death toll rise • FRANCE 24 English

it’s a sacred R of the ha pilgrimage circling the cabba the house of Allah at the center of the holiest site in Islam but this year a sacred R has turned into a dangerous ordeal temperatures in Mecca have surpassed 50° C with tragic results as a witness told France 24 people are dying hundred of people I saw I saw hundred of people are dying on the track 100 of but nobody are picking the dead bodies they said there is no ambulance it’s a murder it’s a murder of 500 people even more deaths have now been reported by authorities in pilgrims home countries among them hundreds of Egyptian citizens many of whom were not officially registered as pilgrims like tens of thousands of other participants who can’t afford the costly permits that makes them especially vulnerable to extreme conditions as they don’t have access to air conditioned shelters even after hours of walking and praying outside in a pressing crowd the pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the five pillars of Islam so a requirement for the faithful who push on despite the Searing heat but you also have to consider that the the people are very religiously motivated they don’t consider because for some of them it is once in a lifetime affair but it’s becoming more and more unsustainable as climate change threatens even more extreme heat in future

The death toll from this year’s hajj has exceeded 1,000, an AFP tally said on Thursday, more than half of them unregistered worshippers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia. The hajj, whose timing is determined by the lunar Islamic calendar, fell again this year during the oven-like Saudi summer. The national meteorological centre reported a high of 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) this week at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
#hajj #heat #deaths

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45 comments

  1. ohhh my word, and the women can't strip down like men can- willing to bet 70% or more of the dead are ladys. I was working recently on a concrete surface at 90 degrees- it was sickening- I can't imagine 125 F

  5. Allah will take them into heaven. The dead have only discarded their mortal body. Allah has decided everyone's fate. This was meant to be. O humans, why are you lamenting over Allah's plan for the dead. Don't you know Allah knows better than you.

  6. The Islamic calendar is lunar based and for nearly a decade now the hajj dates have coincided with summer. This calendar seems to inflict suffering. It would be better if Islam turned away from such a calendar that has holidays which lag by 10 days each year compared to the Gregorian calendar and cause hajj to float around different seasons.

  9. 😬 Worst religion, especially for women. Look @0:20, a woman covered from head to toe with only her eyes visible is sitting up to fan a half naked man as he laid cooly sleeping.

  13. But Malaysians malay think is a priviledge to die in Mecca, they were all chanting ahamdullilah. And said they too wish to die there

  18. Good to see help offered. Nobody is gonna be very busy picking up all those dead bodies. After they're picked up, what does nobody do with them. Nobody should have an answer as we all know, 'nobody's perfect'.

  22. Why people are so cruel? These people are mostly elderly and they didn't know about the heat wave until they arrive and they cannot go home either

  28. I live in a muslim area, the few rich Muslims have zero empathy for poor and middle class. The rich is so egoistic that their women consider themselves some very important person and they will only donate for religion, none on education of neighbourhood or social service

  29. Guaranteed heaven for all those who died during the pilgrimage but still sad news to hear about so many deaths that could have potentially been avoided.

  34. Hajj is a place to wipe your sins and those that died passed with a clean slate.
    Abraham really wanted a child. Sarah was unable so he knocked up Hagar. Allah was like "whoa I said patience. I dont approve of this, I want you to sacrifice your son." Abraham walked with Hagar and Ishmael and left them in the middle of nowhere.
    Hagar went back and forth between two mountaintops, which is why Muslims do this 7 times when they perform Hajj. Obviously the sacrifice was stopped at the last second and a sheep was told to be sacrificed instead, which is why Muslims also slaughter sheep once a year(at least).
    After that Abraham and Ishmael (peace be upon them) laid the foundation of the Ka'aba

  38. where are the contingencies plan of Saudi? it is heartbreaking to see these pilgrims dying Anywhere without medical assistance …Is Saudi not concern with these pilgrims who are all THEIR BROTHERS ? so sad to see that there are also children carried by their fathers under the heat of the sun without enough supply of water ?

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