550 Hajj pilgrims die amid scorching heat in Mecca: Reports
Mecca, Jun 19: Hundreds of people died during this year's Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced intense high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, officials said on Wednesday as people tried to claim their loved ones' bodies.
Saudi Arabia has not commented on the death toll amid the heat during the pilgrimage, required of every able Muslim once in their life, nor offered any causes for those who died.
However, hundreds of people had lined up at the Emergency Complex in Al-Muaisem neighbourhood in Mecca, trying to get information about their missing family members.
One list circulating online suggested at least 550 people died during the five-day Hajj. A medic who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss information not released publicly by the government said that the names listed appeared genuine. That medic and another official who also spoke on condition of anonymity said they believed at least 600 bodies were at the facility. The list offered no cause of death.
Each year, the Hajj draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from low-income nations, “many of whom have had little, if any, pre-Hajj health care,” an article in the April edition of the Journal of Infection and Public Health said. Communicable illnesses can spread among the gathered masses, many of whom saved their entire lives for their trips and can be elderly with preexisting health conditions, the paper added.
However, the number of dead this year suggests something caused the number of deaths to swell. Already, several countries have said some of their pilgrims died because of the heat that swept across the holy sites at Mecca, including Jordan and Tunisia.
Temperatures on Tuesday reached 47 degrees Celsius (117 degrees Fahrenheit) in Mecca and the sacred sites in and around the city, according to the Saudi National Center for Meteorology. Onlookers saw some people faint while trying to perform the symbolic stoning of the devil.
Others, including many Egyptians, lost track of their loved ones in the heat and the crowds. More than 1.83 million Muslims performed the Hajj in 2024, including more than 1.6 million pilgrims from 22 countries, and around 222,000 Saudi citizens and residents, according to the Saudi Hajj authorities.
On Wednesday at the medical complex in Mecca, an Egyptian man collapsed to the ground when he heard the name of mother among the dead. He cried for some time before grabbing his cellphone and calling a travel agent, shouting: “He left her to die!” The crowd tried to calm the man.
Security appeared tight at the complex, with an official reading out names of the dead and the nationalities, which included people from Algeria, Egypt and India. Those who said they were kin of the dead were allowed inside to identify the deceased.
The AP could not independently confirm the cause of death at the complex. Saudi officials did not respond to questions seeking more information.
The kingdom's ruling Al Saud family maintains a major influence in the Muslim world through its oil wealth and management of Islam's holiest sites. Like Saudi monarchs before him, King Salman has taken the title of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, referring to the Grand Mosque in Mecca home to the cube-shaped Kaaba that Muslims pray towards five times a day, and the Prophet's Mosque in the nearby city of Medina.
Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on crowd control and safety measures for those attending the annual five-day pilgrimage, but the sheer number of participants makes ensuring their safety difficult.
Climate change could make the risk even greater. A 2019 study by experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that even if the world succeeds in mitigating the worst effects of climate change, the Hajj would be held in temperatures exceeding an “extreme danger threshold” from 2047 to 2052, and from 2079 to 2086.
Islam follows a lunar calendar, so the Hajj falls around 11 days earlier each year. In 2030, the Hajj will occur in April, and over the next several years it will fall in the winter, when temperatures are milder.
A 2015 stampede in Mina during the hajj killed over 2,400 pilgrims, the deadliest incident to ever strike the pilgrimage, an AP count showed. Saudi Arabia has never acknowledged the full toll of the stampede. A separate crane collapse at Mecca's Grand Mosque, which preceded the Mina disaster, killed 111 people.
The second-deadliest incident at hajj was a 1990 stampede that killed 1,426 people.
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Kannada-medium student tops MA English at Davangere University; Hamali’s son tops Physic
A Kannada-medium student emerging as the university topper in English studies stood out at the 13th annual convocation of Davangere University held on Friday at its Shivagangotri campus in Tholahunase.
Vijayashri BM, a resident of Basavanalu village in Davangere taluk, secured the first rank in MA English, despite having completed her schooling and undergraduate education entirely in Kannada medium. Speaking after the convocation, she said shifting to English at the postgraduate level was challenging in the beginning, but sustained effort, discipline and regular practice helped her overcome the difficulty.
Vijayashri said she chose English believing that the language opens up wider career opportunities. She credited her father, Basavaraju, a retired Mathematics teacher, for motivating her to pursue higher studies. Currently working at a private school in Davangere, she said she hopes to continue her career in teaching.
The convocation also saw Physics student Puttaraja emerging as a top achiever. He secured the first rank in Physics and received three gold medals. According to a Deccan Herald report, Puttaraja said his academic decisions were influenced by his family’s financial situation. His father, Rudresh Veerappa Mattikatti, works as a hamali in Davangere and earns about ₹10,000 a month.
Puttaraja said scholarships offered by the Department of Science and Technology for science toppers made it possible for him to continue higher studies. He said first-rank holders receive a monthly scholarship of ₹32,000 for the first two years, which later increases to ₹37,000, easing the financial burden on their families.
He completed his undergraduate studies in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics at a government first-grade college in Davangere and is now preparing to pursue a PhD in semiconductor nanocrystals under Professor M N Kalasad. He has appeared for the National Eligibility Test and is awaiting results, besides preparing for the Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering scheduled for February 7. He said he aspires to work with organisations such as the Defence Research and Development Organisation or the Indian Space Research Organisation.
Puttaraja also noted that dedication and personal conduct matter more than economic background in earning the support of teachers and mentors.
