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Hajj Pilgrimage Claims Lives

Well over two million Muslims from all over Earth raised their hands to the sky and chanted in this last Sunday as they made their way through a desert valley in Saudi Arabia to the outskirts of Mecca in preparation for Islam`s annual holy pilgrimage. Unfortunately, many don`t survive the journey. Every Muslim who is healthy enough and has enough finances to make the trip is obligated under Islam to make it at least once.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, caretaker of the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, has taken extra precautions this year in an effort to prevent deadly stampedes that have killed hundreds in the past during the stoning ritual. Two years ago, 244 people were trampled to death when the crowd panicked during the stoning ritual. A recent hotel collapse in the holiest city of the Islamic world took 76 lives, many or most of the guests were pilgrims from around the world.

An official says the death toll among Indonesian pilgrims this year who were performing the religious journey to the Saudi Arabian holy sites of Mecca and Medina has reached 114 as of Monday. Severe weather in Arabia is blamed for most of the casualties among Indonesian pilgrims, the majority of who were elderly. Indonesia is the world`s largest Muslim nation, and sent nearly 200,000 pilgrims to Saudi Arabia this season.