Hajj death toll rises 'above 500' as pilgrims in Saudi Arabia face extreme heat

Over 550 people reportedly died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia amid extreme temperatures.

Temperatures on Monday reached 49C in Mecca and the sacred sites in and around the holy city.

One list online suggested that at least 550 people had passed away, the Associated Press reported.

On Wednesday it was reported that Saudi Arabia had not yet commented on the death toll. Over 1.8 million pilgrims had taken part in the five-day Hajj this year. Hajj is one of the Five Pillars or core tenants of Islam.

Each year, the five-day pilgrimage draws hundreds of thousands of people from low-income nations, “many of whom have had little, if any, pre-Hajj health care,” according to the Journal of Infection and Public Health’s April edition.

Many of these people, particularly the elderly with preexisting health conditions, are often victim to the spread of communicable diseases.

However, the number of dead this year suggests the heat caused the fatalities to swell. Several countries, including Jordan and Tunisia, have already said some of their pilgrims died because of the heat that swept across the holy sites at Mecca.

Meanwhile, a considerable number of individuals simply fainted due to the blistering heat.

An Indian pilgrim named Khalid Bashir Bazaz on Wednesday near the Grand Mosque said he “saw a lot of people collapsing to the ground unconscious.”

They were also spotted fainting while performing the symbolic stoning of the devil ritual.

It has been said that Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on crowd control and safety, however the sheer number of pilgrims performing the Hajj has made ensuring their safety a difficult task.