‘We are happy he’s buried in Mecca,’ says daughter of man who died in Hajj heat wave

CNN —

The family of an elderly Indonesian man who died during this year’s Hajj is happy he was buried in the holy city of Mecca, his daughter said, as the Southeast Asian nation mourns hundreds of its citizens who perished in extreme heat during the annual Islamic pilgrimage.

More than 1,300 people died on this year’s Hajj with “numerous cases” due to heat stress, according to Saudi Arabian authorities, after more than 1.8 million pilgrims took part despite temperatures soaring to dangerous levels. Authorities in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, said at least 215 Indonesians are among the dead.

Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Heru Jumartiyah said her 86-year-old father, Ngatijo Wongso Sentono, died on June 17 in his tent in Mina, southeast of Mecca, as he waited for midday prayers.

“He was asleep and had no symptoms of sickness before. Everyone said he was healthy during the Hajj procession,” she said.

Sentono had registered for the Hajj in 2018 and traveled to Mecca with his 83-year-old wife and neighbors from the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, Jumartiyah said.

“My father was very enthusiastic about going on the Hajj. He wanted to leave immediately,” she said.

Muslim pilgrims arrive to perform the symbolic 'stoning of the devil' ritual as part of the hajj pilgrimage in Mina, near Saudi Arabia's holy city of Mecca, on June 16, 2024. Pilgrims perform the last major ritual of the hajj, the «stoning of the devil», in western Saudi Arabia on June 16, as Muslims the world over celebrate the Eid al-Adha holiday.

Related article Saudi Arabia says 1,301 died on Hajj this year

Performing Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, which requires every Muslim who is physically and financially able to