At least 550 pilgrims died during the hajj, diplomats said on Tuesday, highlighting the harrowing nature of the pilgrimage which also took place in searing heat this year.

Two Arab diplomats coordinating their countries’ responses told AFP that at least 323 Egyptians were among the dead, most of them from heat-related illnesses.

“All of them (the Egyptians) died because of the heat”, except for one man who was slightly injured in the crowd, one diplomat said, adding that the total figure came from the morgue of a hospital in Mecca’s al-Muaisim neighbourhood.

At least 60 Jordanians were also killed, diplomats said, while the official number given by Amman on Tuesday was 41.

With these new deaths, the total number of deaths reported by various countries so far has reached 577, according to AFP count.

Diplomats said there were a total of 550 people at Al-Muaisim mortuary, one of Mecca’s largest.

The Hajj is one of the Five Pillars of Islam and all Muslims must complete it at least once.

The impact of climate change on the pilgrimage is growing rapidly, according to a Saudi study published last month. The study said temperatures in the region where the religious rituals are performed are rising by 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.72 degrees Fahrenheit) each decade.

The Saudi National Meteorology Center said temperatures at Mecca’s Grand Mosque reached 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) on Monday.

heat stress

Earlier on Tuesday, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said Cairo was cooperating with Saudi authorities to search for Egyptians missing during the Hajj.

Although the ministry statement said there had been “a certain number of deaths,” it did not clarify whether these included Egyptians.

Saudi authorities said they had treated more than 2,000 pilgrims suffering from heatstroke, but they have not updated the toll since Sunday and have not provided any information on the number of dead.

At least 240 pilgrims, most of them Indonesians, were reported dead by various countries last year.

AFP journalists in Mina, outside Mecca on Monday saw pilgrims pouring bottles of water over their heads, while volunteers distributed cold drinks and fast-melting chocolate ice cream to keep them cool.

Saudi authorities had advised pilgrims to use umbrellas, drink plenty of water and avoid going out in the sun during the hottest hours of the day.

But many of the hajj rituals, including prayers performed at Mount Arafat on Saturday, involve spending hours outdoors during the day.

Some pilgrims reported seeing motionless bodies on the roadside and that ambulance services were often overwhelmed.

According to Saudi authorities, about 1.8 million pilgrims participated in the Hajj this year, of which 1.6 million were foreigners.

Unregistered pilgrims

Each year, thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform Hajj through irregular means because they cannot afford the expensive procedures for an official Hajj visa.

This could pose a threat to these pilgrims as they cannot avail the air-conditioned facilities provided by the Saudi authorities on the Hajj route.

A diplomat who spoke to AFP on Tuesday said the rise in Egypt’s death toll was “absolutely” due to the large number of unregistered Egyptian pilgrims.

“Irregular pilgrims caused great chaos in Egyptian pilgrim camps, bringing services to a halt,” said an Egyptian official overseeing the country’s hajj mission.

“The pilgrims stayed for long periods without food, water or air conditioning.”

They died of heat as most of the people had no place to take shelter.

Earlier this month, Saudi authorities said they had expelled hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca ahead of the hajj.

Other countries that reported deaths during Hajj this year include Indonesia, Iran and Senegal.

Most countries have not reported how many deaths were heat-related.

Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdul Rahman al-Jalajel said on Tuesday that health plans for Hajj have been “successfully implemented,” preventing a large number of disease outbreaks and other public health threats, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

The SPA said health officials “provided virtual consultation to more than 5,800 pilgrims, mainly for heat-related illnesses, enabling prompt intervention and reducing the likelihood of a surge in cases.”