Climate change threat hangs over haj pilgrimage as hundreds perish in heat

RIYADH - Nearly 2 million Muslims will reach the end of the haj pilgrimage this week, but extreme heat has proved fatal for hundreds who began the journey last Friday to the Kaaba at the Grand Mosque in Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

"It was so harsh and the people cannot bear that type of heat," said Wilayet Mustafa, a Pakistani pilgrim. "The haj has been conducted in a certain way for more than 1,000 years now, and it's always been a hot climate," said Carl-Friedrich Schleussner, a scientific advisor at German institute Climate Analytics."But ... the climate crisis is adding to the severity of the climate conditions".

"It is going to be very fatal," said Fahad Saeed, a climate scientist at Climate Analytics based in Pakistan.A lack of acclimatization to higher temperature, intense physical exertion, exposed spaces, and an older population makes pilgrims vulnerable.The situation will get much worse as the world warms, scientists said.

Pakistani pilgrim Mustafa said he had to push his 75-year-old mother in a wheelchair. When they tried to rest, they were told by police to keep moving, he said.

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