Incidents during the Hajj

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 new deaths reported Thursday included 58 from Egypt, according to an Arab diplomat who provided a breakdown showing that of 658 total dead from that country, 630 were unregistered.

Diplomats has said at least 550 pilgrims died during the hajj, underscoring the grueling nature of the pilgrimage which again unfolded in scorching temperatures 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' responses told AFP.

Temperatures in Saudi Arabia have reached 46 degrees this year, resulting in the deaths of several pilgrims in Mecca. The Jordanian Foreign Ministry confirmed that 14 Jordanian nationals have died from sunstroke, with another 17 reported missing.

Muslim pilgrims arrive to perform the symbolic 'stoning of the devil' ritual as part of the hajj pilgrimage in Mina, near Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca, on June 16, 2024

Pilgrims on Sunday performed the last major ritual of the hajj, the "stoning of the devil", in western Saudi Arabia as Muslims around the globe celebrated the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Saudi Arabia has said that security forces had cleared hundreds of thousands of unregistered pilgrims from Mecca ahead of the Hajj which begins this week.

Crowd management is a major concern during the annual pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam which drew more than 1.8 million Muslims last year, according to official figures.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims crowded Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat on Tuesday, the climax of a potentially record-breaking hajj pilgrimage held in fierce summer heat.

As dawn broke, groups of worshippers recited Koran verses on the rocky rise, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have given his final sermon.

Huge crowds of Muslim pilgrims prayed on Saudi Arabia's Mount Arafat on July 8, the high point of the biggest hajj pilgrimage since the pandemic forced drastic cuts in numbers for two years in a row.

Saudi Arabia announced on June 12it will allow 60,000 residents vaccinated against COVID to perform this year's hajj, but Muslims from abroad will be barred for a second straight year.

Part of a walkway collapsed as tens of thousands of people celebrated Ashoura on Sept. 10, causing a stampede and killing at least 31 pilgrims on one of the most sacred religious holy days for the Shiite sect, officials said.

At least 28 Turkish pilgrims died during the period of Hajj in Saudi Arabia, Turkey's top cleric told reporters on Aug. 12.