A large number of the pilgrims who died in the heat of Mecca were Egyptians who used unofficial routes. The managers of the travel agencies are to be prosecuted for their activities.
The hajj pilgrimage, which claimed more than a thousand lives, has deeply shocked Egypt. Prime minister Mustafa Madbuli on Saturday ordered the cancellation of the licenses of sixteen travel agencies for organizing illegal pilgrimages to the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
According to the government, the managers of travel agencies are to be prosecuted for their activities. They had arranged visas for their clients that did not officially allow visits to Mecca.
More than 1,100 people died during the pilgrimage in the scorching heat of Mecca. About 660 of the dead were Egyptians, and 630 of them had traveled to the Muslim holy city outside of official arrangements.
President of Egypt Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ordered the establishment of a crisis group to find out the fate of the pilgrims. Pilgrims who traveled to Mecca illegally had to survive alone in the heat of the holy city, which at its worst reached over 50 degrees Celsius. They were not allowed in air-conditioned tents to cool off and they did not have access to buses carrying pilgrims.
More than 50,000 pilgrims left Egypt through the official system of Saudi Arabia. 31 of them died of various chronic diseases, the government announced.
Pilgrimage places are allocated through a country-specific quota and lottery, and the demand has traditionally been many times greater than the supply. Unofficial hajj trips are also in demand because they are clearly cheaper than official arrangements.
According to Saudi Arabia, 1.8 million pilgrims participated in this year’s pilgrimage, of which 1.6 million came from abroad. The number of unofficial pilgrims is estimated at around 400,000.