World & Nation
Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdurrahman Al-Jalajel said 83% of the fatalities were unauthorized pilgrims who walked long distances in soaring heat.
Masses of pilgrims have embarked on a symbolic stoning of the devil in Saudi Arabia, marking the final days of Hajj pilgrimage.
Saudi Arabia has not commented on the death toll, but one list circulating online suggested at least 550 people died during the five-day Hajj.
Some 2 million Muslim pilgrims officially begin the annual Hajj pilgrimage, which is returning to full capacity for the first time since the pandemic.
Global inflation and economic crises over the past year have hiked prices for Islam’s Hajj pilgrimage dramatically.
This year’s hajj is a landmark: the first full pilgrimage after three years when the COVID-19 pandemic reduced the scale of one of Islam’s holiest rites.
Nestled in the sand dunes an hour’s drive from the skyscrapers of Dubai, a desert village abandoned in the 1990s stands as an eerie relic.
SeaWorld, which was hit by controversy over its treatment of killer whales, has opened a massive new aquatic life park in the United Arab Emirates.
A million pilgrims from across the globe are gathering in the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia to perform the rites of the hajj.
Muslim pilgrims are converging on Saudi Arabia’s holy city of Mecca for the first pilgrimage there since the coronavirus severely curtailed access.