00:00It's a sacred rite of the Hajj pilgrimage, circling the Kaaba, the house of Allah, at
00:07the centre of the holiest site in Islam.
00:10But this year a sacred rite has turned into a dangerous ordeal.
00:15Temperatures in Mecca have surpassed 50 degrees Celsius, with tragic results, as a witness
00:21told France24.
00:23People are dying, hundreds of people I saw, I saw hundreds of people are dying on the
00:30track, hundreds of, but nobody are picking the dead bodies, they said there is no ambulance,
00:37it's a murder, it's a murder of 500 people.
00:41Even more deaths have now been reported by authorities in pilgrims' home countries, among
00:47them hundreds of Egyptian citizens, many of whom were not officially registered as
00:52pilgrims, like tens of thousands of other participants who can't afford the costly permits.
00:57That makes them especially vulnerable to extreme conditions, as they don't have access to air-conditioned
01:03shelters, even after hours of walking and praying outside in a pressing crowd.
01:09The pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the five pillars of Islam, so a requirement for the
01:14faithful who push on, despite the searing heat.
01:19You also have to consider that the people are very religiously motivated, they don't
01:24consider because for some of them it is a once in a lifetime affair.
01:29But it's becoming more and more unsustainable, as climate change threatens even more extreme
01:35heat in future.
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