while performing this year’s hajj in extreme heat conditions, according to figures compiled by Arab diplomats. The overwhelming majority, like the Nagibs, were unregistered pilgrims from Egypt, who entered Mecca without the official permits now required by Saudi law.
The Saudi authorities have said that they want to increase the number of annual pilgrims visiting Mecca year-round to 30 million by 2030, as part of the vision 2030 plan, which aims to wean the kingdom off of oil revenue with measures including increased tourism.
In an effort to avoid a repeat of a deadly crush in 2015, the Saudi government this year began a campaign called “no hajj without a permit”, with the Mecca authorities stressing that anyone attempting to enter the holy city without required permission would face strict penalties.
The opposition National Assembly party, composed of exiled Saudi dissidents, issued a condemnation of the Saudi Arabian authorities for their “negligence” towards the pilgrims, describing a “systematic media blackout” about the deaths.
The Nagibs arrived in Mecca two months before the hajj began, paying the equivalent of £2,155 to a broker in Egypt for the unofficial pilgrimage, where they shared a basic room with six others in a location outside the holy city, one that required more walking than official pilgrims.
They arrived shortly before intense early summer temperatures covered Saudi Arabia and much of the Middle East .
The Gulf is already one of the regions most vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis, which supercharged the summer heatwave. The Climate Shift Index said the temperature in Mecca during the hajj was 2.8C above average, a rise it said was overwhelmingly attributable to climate change.
Even a small temperature rise can push the limits of human endurance for events such as the hajj, which occurs during the warmer months. A 2019 study from MIT warned that rising temperatures during the summer months could pose “extreme danger” to pilgrims attending the event.
All Muslims who are able to are required to make the hajj pilgrimage at least once in their lives. Saudi officials have taken steps to control crowding, and supply amenities such as air-conditioned tents to make the pilgrimage more bearable, but these are available only to registered pilgrims.
Roshdy said that many pilgrims were older, having saved for years to attend the hajj, and had underlying conditions that increased the risks posed by hours outdoors in the extreme heat.
“Those people cannot walk for all these distances in such an extremely hot weather,” he said. “All of this is because the tourism companies and brokers want to make money.”