Severe heat proves fatal for older Malaysia, Indonesia haj pilgrims: ‘saw people collapse’

Soaring temperatures have taken a deadly toll on the high numbers of elderly Southeast Asian haj pilgrims who were among the two million Muslims who flocked to Mecca this year, authorities said.

“Three people had heatstroke, most of the rest were due to comorbidities,” Nasrullah Jassam, a representative of the Indonesian consulate in Jeddah, told CNN Indonesia on Wednesday.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, routinely reports some of the highest mortality rates among the millions of foreigners who embark on the haj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia.

Indonesian pilgrims often wait until they are older to undertake the pilgrimage, due to lengthy waiting lists and quotas in their home country.

This year, around 240,000 Indonesians made the journey to Mecca, according to government figures. Of these, nearly 45,000 were over 65, with some in their nineties. The oldest Indonesian pilgrim this year was 109.

Videos shared by social media users from Indonesia showed some pilgrims’ frustration with their accommodation.

Aware of the risks of overcrowding, stampedes, and providing water and shelter from the sun to the near two million pilgrims expected this year, Saudi authorities also tightened up control via the introduction of a biometric digital ID for pilgrims to facilitate identification and streamline services.

However, as they do each year, tens of thousands of people attempted the pilgrimage through unofficial means, as they could not afford the cost of official visas, adding to the congestion.

Responding to a post about the deaths caused by extreme heat, one user on X said conditions had been exacerbated by overcrowding, saying: “It is not a matter of whether it’s legal or not, but it poses many harms, including harm to