Over a thousand Muslim pilgrims die from high temperatures in Saudi Arabia

More than a thousand people died during Haxhi's pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia, authorities announced.

Muslim believers faced extreme temperatures of up to 46 degrees Celsius during this month's pilgrimage to Mecca.

More than half of the dead were from Egypt, according to officials in Cairo. Egypt announced the removal of a license for 16 travel agencies that helped unauthorized pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia, authorities announced.

Saudi Arabia has not commented on the deaths during the pilgrimage.

One of the five pillars of Islam, Haxhi is a sacred duty that every Muslim believer should undertake at least once in his life,

Egypt's government announced that 31 authorized pilgrims died due to chronic diseases during this year's pilgrimage, but did not provide official figures for other believers.

However, a government official said at least 630 other Egyptians died on pilgrimage.

Saudi authorities prevented unauthorized pilgrims from driving out tens of thousands of people. But many, mainly Egyptians, were able to reach sacred sites in and around Mecca, some standing up. Unlike authorized pilgrims, they had no hotels to escape the scorching heat.

According to reports by the Associated Press news agency, the balance of the dead includes 165 pilgrims from Indonesia, 98 from India, and dozens from Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Malaysia. The death of two American pilgrims was also reported.

During Hagi's walk this year, high temperatures ranged from 46 to 49 degrees Celsius in Mecca and in sacred places around the city, according to data of the meteorological service in Saudi Arabia.

According to Saudi data, more than 1. 83 million Muslims were part of this year's pilgrimage. / VOA