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Contains distressing content.
20 Jun 2024

Over 1000 pilgrims reported dead during hajj in Saudi Arabia

Cathy Newman: Now more than a thousand people are reported to have died during this year’s hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia – in scorching temperatures which rose above 50 degrees celsius. Around 1.8 million people have taken part in this year’s hajj, most of them from abroad. Officials had advised pilgrims to take precautions against the suffocating heatwave, and avoid going outside without an umbrella. But it seems hundreds of those who died were not formally registered and could not access the cooling tents.

A warning, our report contains distressing images.

Harry Fawcett reports.