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After a whole bunch of pilgrims died within the scorching desert warmth through the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, the Egyptian authorities introduced on Saturday that it had suspended the licenses of 16 tour corporations that had facilitated journey for some pilgrims to Saudi Arabia.
No less than 450 folks have died throughout this 12 months’s pilgrimage, through which vacationers endured most temperatures that ranged from 108 levels to 120 levels Fahrenheit (42 to 49 levels Celsius). However the precise variety of fatalities is predicted to climb as governments get extra correct tallies of the deaths. (Egypt, for one, has formally acknowledged solely 31 deaths.)
In saying the suspension of the 16 journey corporations, the Egyptian authorities mentioned the companies failed to supply the pilgrims essential providers like medical care. It mentioned the businesses didn’t present the pilgrims with “acceptable lodging,” which prompted them to undergo from “exhaustion as a result of excessive temperatures.”
Reuters reported that some journey companies could not have formally registered for the pilgrimage, to get across the excessive prices of package deal excursions. And, Reuters mentioned, corporations have been being blamed for letting pilgrims journey to Saudi Arabia on private visas, somewhat than hajj visas, which offer entry to medical care and the holy websites.
Mahmoud Qassem, a member of Egypt’s Parliament, mentioned the journey corporations “left the pilgrims stranded and turned off their cellphones” so they might not hear the vacationers’ requires assist.
There have been additionally complaints that pilgrims weren’t given entry to sufficient cooling stations or water amid the extreme warmth.
The variety of unregistered guests — along with the extreme desert warmth — may have left Saudi Arabia unprepared for coping with such a big inflow of individuals.
Tunisia’s authorities has mentioned that the dying toll of pilgrims from that nation was anticipated to rise from the 49 reported on Friday, because the variety of folks touring on vacationer visas turned extra clear.
The hajj has been the location of a number of tragedies, together with a stampede in 2015 that killed greater than 2,200 folks. Lately, with rising temperatures, many pilgrims have additionally succumbed to warmth stress.
The Saudi authorities has mentioned that in this 12 months’s hajj, greater than 1.8 million Muslims traveled to Mecca, 1.6 million of them from exterior Saudi Arabia.
Hager Al-Hakeem contributed reporting from Luxor, Egypt.
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