Srinagar, Jun 19: Five women pilgrims from Kashmir have reportedly died due to heat stroke in Arafat and Muzdalifa, said an official.
A senior Jammu and Kashmir Hajj Officer said the extreme temperatures experienced during the pilgrimage have taken a toll on the health of several pilgrims.
“The temperature has been soaring, and unfortunately, five lady pilgrims from Kashmir have succumbed to heat stroke in Arafat and Muzdalifa of which four are from Srinagar and one from district Kulgam. The death certificates are yet to be issued,” the official stated.
The official said that during the ongoing holy pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, temperatures even soared to a scorching 48°C, saying that despite hot weather conditions, pilgrims persevered in performing their religious duties.
The official said the deceased pilgrims were accompanied by their relatives, and it has been confirmed that they will be buried in Makkah.
According to the officials, this year, over 7000 pilgrims from Jammu and Kashmir undertook the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and Madina.
Of these, approximately 6800 pilgrims departed through the Srinagar embarkation point, while over 500 pilgrims traveled from other airports.
Meanwhile, at least 550 pilgrims died during the Hajj due to extreme heat this year.
At least 323 of those who died were Egyptians, most of them succumbing to heat-related illnesses, two Arab diplomats coordinating their countries said.
“All of them (the Egyptians) died because of heat” except for one who sustained fatal injuries during a minor crowd crush, one of the diplomats said, adding the total figure came from the hospital morgue in the Al-Muaisem neighborhood of Mecca.
At least 60 Jordanians also died, the diplomats said, up from an official tally of 41 given earlier on Tuesday by Amman.
The new deaths bring the total reported so far by multiple countries to 577, according to an AFP tally.
The diplomats said the total at the morgue in Al-Muaisem, one of the biggest in Mecca, was 550.
The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims with the means must complete it at least once.
The pilgrimage is increasingly affected by climate change, according to a Saudi study published last month that said temperatures in the area where rituals are performed were rising 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.72 degrees Fahrenheit) each decade.
Temperatures hit 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) at the Grand Mosque in Mecca on Monday, the Saudi National Meteorology Center said.
