98 Indians died during annual Haj pilgrimage: MEA

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said on Friday that ninety-eight Indians have died during the annual Haj pilgrimage to Mecca largely due to natural causes, chronic illnesses and old age,

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the total number of deaths of Indians in the entire Haj period last year was 187.As many as 1,75,000 Indian pilgrims visited Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, for Haj this year.”Every year a large number of pilgrims from India attend Haj, and some of them unfortunately pass away during the Haj period. This year, 175000 Indian pilgrims visited Makkah for Haj,” Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing.”The Haj period is from May 9 to July 22. This year, till now, 98 deaths have been reported. The deaths have been due to natural causes, chronic illnesses, and old age,” he said.”Six people died on the day of Arafat and four were accident-related deaths.

Last year, total deaths in the entire Haj period were 187,” Jaiswal said.

Meanwhile, the death toll from this year's hajj has exceeded 1,000, an AFP tally said, more than half unregistered worshippers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia.