Egyptian pilgrims death toll rises to 49 in Saudi Arabia

The total number of deaths among Egyptians performing the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia has risen to 49, Egypt’s health ministry announced today

The head of Egypt’s hajj medical commission, Ahmed Al-Ansari told the ministry that nine pilgrims died on Sunday, raising the death toll of the Egyptian pilgrims to 49 persons.

El-Ansary noted that the death cases, which he said to have increased during the Al-Tashriq days – the days following the Eid Al-Adha (sacrifice feast) day – were due to the pilgrims’ fatigue, hardship and old age.

He added that the commission has coordinated with the Saudi authorities to issue death certificates for the dead Egyptians.

According to the ministry, the majority of the dead pilgrims were over the age of 60 years and have died due to either a drop in blood circulation, pneumonia, or cardiac attack.

On Saturday, the ministry’s official statistics showed that the death toll of Egyptians performing Hajj in Saudi Arabia has reached 40 persons.

The number of Egyptian pilgrims this year amounted to 78,000, compared to 72,622 pilgrims in 2016, according the ministry’s official data.

Deaths from heat exhaustion, fatigue and other natural causes are a common occurrence among pilgrims on the hajj in Saudi Arabia. Last year, 43 Egyptians died of natural causes during the pilgrimage.