A lack of cooling centers, sleeping accommodations, and other critical support services made the effects of the heat wave that killed at least 1,300 Hajj pilgrims even more deadly, pilgrims and media reports said.
On top of that, they come cheap, like many people from Egypt did. If I understand this correctly, you can buy a kind of “Hadjj package” with hotel room, access to AC’ed facilities during the day, food and - most important - drink, and even medical supervision (or at least easy access to medical services). But of course you have to pay for this.
So it is cheaper just to get a tourist visum and do everything outside those guard rails. With the results that this years Hadjj produced. A bunch of Egyptian travel agencies sold the cheaper variant, and then left their customers without any real support inside Saudi Arabia.
The real tragedy is that many people coming up to the end of their life do the pilgrimage as a matter of urgency. “Now or never”.
These are the most vulnerable people, who don’t have time flexibility to wait for better weather.
On top of that, they come cheap, like many people from Egypt did. If I understand this correctly, you can buy a kind of “Hadjj package” with hotel room, access to AC’ed facilities during the day, food and - most important - drink, and even medical supervision (or at least easy access to medical services). But of course you have to pay for this.
So it is cheaper just to get a tourist visum and do everything outside those guard rails. With the results that this years Hadjj produced. A bunch of Egyptian travel agencies sold the cheaper variant, and then left their customers without any real support inside Saudi Arabia.
And it will only get worse.