The total number of reported deaths so far stands at 645, according to an AFP count.
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia:
A diplomat in Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that 68 Indian nationals were killed during this year's hajj pilgrimage, marked by scorching heather, bringing the total toll to more than 600.
“We have confirmed about 68 deaths… Some are due to natural causes and we had a lot of old pilgrims. And some are due to weather conditions, we assume,” said the diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity. told AFP.
The new toll comes after two Arab diplomats told AFP on Tuesday that 550 had been killed during the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam that all Muslims with the means must perform at least once.
That number included 323 Egyptians and 60 Jordanians, the Arab diplomats said, with one specifying that almost all Egyptians died “as a result of the heat.”
Fatalities have also been confirmed in Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia and Iraq's Kurdistan Autonomous Region, although authorities have not specified the cause in many cases.
The total number of reported deaths so far stands at 645, according to an AFP count.
More than 200 pilgrims were reported dead last year, most from Indonesia.
Saudi Arabia has not provided information on fatalities, although it reported more than 2,700 cases of “heat exhaustion” on Sunday alone.
The diplomat who confirmed the fatalities in India said some Indian pilgrims were also missing, but he declined to give an exact number.
“This happens every year… We can't say it is abnormally high this year,” he said.
“It's somewhat similar to last year, but we'll know more in the coming days.”
In recent years, the Hajj has taken place during the sweltering Saudi summer.
According to a Saudi study published last month, temperatures in the area where rituals are performed are rising by 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.72 degrees Fahrenheit) every decade.
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