As many as 88,418 Bangladeshis had returned home from Saudi Arabia as of Saturday
One hundred fourteen Bangladeshis who went to Saudi Arabia to perform hajj this year have died.
The latest death was of one Matiur Rahman on Saturday.
Of the 114 deceased, 89 were men and 25 were women. Ninety-four of them died in Makkah, seven in Madinah, one in Jeddah, nine in Mina, two on Mount Arafat and one in Muzdalifah.
As many as 88,418 Bangladeshi pilgrims had returned home as of Saturday.
Tens of thousands of Muslims started streaming out of Islam’s holiest city on June 30 after completing the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia’s scorching summer heat.
This year more than 1.8 million worshippers performed hajj, which is one of the five pillars of Islam and is among the world’s largest religious gatherings.
More than 2,000 people suffered heat stress this year, according to Saudi authorities, after temperatures soared to 48 degrees Celsius during the annual rites.
The real figure for heat stress — which includes heatstroke, exhaustion, cramps and rashes — is probably far higher, as many sufferers were not admitted to hospitals or clinics.
This year’s attendance figures marked a dramatic increase on the 926,000 from last year, when numbers were capped at one million following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Only 10,000 were allowed in 2020, rising to nearly 59,000 a year later.
In recent years hajj, which follows the lunar calendar, has fallen in the Saudi summer, at a time when global warming is making the desert climate even hotter.
Source: Dhakar Tribune
