A British Imam described the scenes as 'harrowing' and said that it was impossible for pilgrims to walk through the streets and not to see people suffering from the heat.
The death toll at the hajj pilgrim has exceeded 1,000, according to reports, as a brutal heatwave has seen temperatures topping 50C at the world's biggest gathering of Muslims in Saudi Arabia .
A British Imam described the scenes as 'harrowing' and said that it was impossible for pilgrims to walk through the streets and not to see people suffering from the heat. 'People were doing whatever they could to shade themselves, they were taking water from kind individuals who were giving them towels, they were taking shade in hotel receptions.He went on to say that while authorities had been on hand to help, they need to learn lessons from the awful scenes caused by the extreme heat, made worse by overcrowding.
Around 1.8 million pilgrims took part in the hajj this year, 1.6 million of them from abroad, according to Saudi authorities 'With climate change, with the fact that the pilgrimage happens in the summer months, they really need to look into this in more detail.' But many of the hajj rituals, including the prayers on Mount Arafat which took place on Saturday, involve being outdoors for hours in the daytime
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