A senior Saudi official defended the kingdom's management of the Hajj rituals on Friday, following announcements from various countries regarding the death of over 1,100 people this year while performing the pilgrimage in Mecca. In his first official comment on the deaths of pilgrims, the official stated, "The state did not fall short, but there is a misjudgment from people who did not assess the risks that would occur to them."
The Saudi official confirmed 577 fatalities during the Day of Arafah and the day of Eid on Sunday. According to the official, this occurred "under difficult weather conditions and extreme temperature," acknowledging that the number does not encompass the entire Hajj season, which officially ended on Wednesday.
The Saudi official added, "We estimate the number of irregular pilgrims at about 400,000 people, the vast majority of whom are of one nationality," referring to Egyptians. Earlier, reports indicated that hundreds of pilgrims died this year due to the hot weather, most of them being Egyptians and Jordanians.
Temperatures in Saudi Arabia reached 45 degrees Celsius this week, with Mecca recording 52 degrees. In this context, Prince Abdul Rahman bin Musaid responded to "offensive" videos about the kingdom regarding the Hajj season that circulated on social media. He confirmed that many of these videos are fabricated and contain baseless allegations.
