Yasser eventually came to the conclusion that he had no alternative but to make the holy pilgrimage illegally after years of failing to obtain a hajj visa; this is a decision he now regrets.
Despite having made it through the arduous annual rituals that took place in intense heat once more this year, he has not seen his wife since Sunday and worries that she is one of the more than 1,000 confirmed deaths, the bulk of whom were unregistered Egyptians just like him.
“I have searched every single hospital in Mecca. She’s not there,” the 60-year-old retired engineer told AFP on Friday by phone from his hotel room, where he is reluctant to pack his wife’s suitcase in hopes she’ll be back to do it herself.
“I don’t want to believe in this possibility that she’s dead. Because if she’s dead, it’s the end of her life and also the end of my life.”
More than half of the hajj fatalities this year have occurred in Egypt, with 658 out of the more than 1,000 recorded as of Friday by about ten nations ranging from Senegal to Indonesia, as per an AFP tally.
630 of the 658 Egyptians who died were unregistered, according to an Arab ambassador who spoke to AFP. This meant that they were unable to depend on access to facilities designed to make the pilgrimage more comfortable.
The Grand Mosque in Mecca, the holiest place in Islam, had temperatures as high as 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit), therefore there were air-conditioned tents there to provide some comfort.
Requests for comments regarding deaths have not received a response from Saudi authorities.
Over 2,700 cases of “heat exhaustion” were reported by the health ministry on Sunday alone; however, the number has not been updated since.
