98 Indians Succumb As Hajj Pilgrimage Death Toll Rises to 1,301  

Around 1,301 fatalities were recorded during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia because of extreme high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, said Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdurrahman Al-Jalajel.

According to him, 83 per cent of the dead were unauthorised pilgrims who walked long distances in soaring temperatures to perform the Hajj rituals in and around the holy city of Mecca.

In an interview to the state-owned Al Ekhbariya TV, the minister said 95 pilgrims were under treatment in hospitals.

According to him, the identification process was delayed because there were no identification documents with many of the dead pilgrims.

He said the dead were buried in Mecca.

The dead included more than 660 Egyptians. Except 31, all of them were unauthorised pilgrims. Egypt has revoked the licences of 16 travel agencies that helped unauthorised pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia for Hajj.

The fatalities also included 165 pilgrims from Indonesia, 98 from India and dozens more from Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Malaysia, according to an Associated Press tally. Two US citizens were also reported dead.