Over 1,000 dead in Mecca: Why is the death toll so high?

More than 1,000 pilgrims died during the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia due to extreme heat. More than half of the victims reportedly did not have official permission to attend the annual gathering, which took place from June 14 to 19. About 1.8 million people participated in the hajj this year. As it is one of the five pillars of Islam, every Muslim is required to participate in the hajj at least once in their lifetime if they have the financial means and physical condition.

Deaths related to extreme heat during the pilgrimage to Mecca are not isolated cases; there have been cases, but “in a much more diffuse form,” says Sylvia Chiffoleau, a researcher at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) at the Rhône-Alpes Historical Research Laboratory in Lyon and author of the book The journey to La Mecque (The Journey to Mecca), published by Éditions Belin in 2017. That year, the temperature in the Great Mosque of Mecca, the holy city of Islam in western Saudi Arabia, reached 51.8 °C (125.2 °F).

Many victims without permission

Each year, tens of thousands of believers attempt to make the pilgrimage without the necessary permits, which are paid and allocated according to quotas and allow access to air-conditioned facilities. In early June, Saudi Arabia announced that it had turned away more than 300,000 unregistered pilgrims from Mecca, including more than 150,000 foreigners who had entered the kingdom on tourist visas without going through official channels.

Many of these people took part in the rituals for several days, which took place in extremely difficult conditions due to the heat, without being able to benefit from the air-conditioned infrastructure provided by the Saudi authorities. “There are measures in place within the framework of the pilgrimage, but only for pilgrims who have a permit, a special permit that also gives them access to cooling stations,” explained Chiffoleau.

“The huge scale makes things difficult”

The Saudi authorities are trying to organize the pilgrimage. “They are firmly committed to it, but the enormous scale makes things difficult,” says Chiffoleau. “Almost every year there are deaths, even without major accidents.” According to Chiffoleau, many older and frailer people take part in the pilgrimage. In addition, in Islamic tradition, it is considered a blessing for believers to die in Mecca or Medina.

The large number of participants in this global event brings significant security and transportation challenges. Transporting pilgrims on Saudi roads can become dangerous, with buses full of worshippers causing endless traffic jams. In 2023, a bus carrying pilgrims caught fire after colliding on a bridge, killing 20 people and injuring about 30 others.

In 2015, a stampede killed over 2,000 people, the worst disaster in the history of the pilgrimage. In recent years, Saudi Arabia has taken extensive measures to facilitate the pilgrimage, including expanding the Grand Mosque to accommodate over a million worshippers at the same time.

With the Vision 2030 plan, launched by Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in 2016 to diversify the Saudi economy, “pilgrimage will take on a much greater importance,” noted Chiffoleau. “The infrastructure will be developed to accommodate more pilgrims.” Saudi Arabia aims to host 30 million pilgrims in Mecca and Medina by 2030: “It’s a kind of endless race between constraints and facilities.”