68 Indians among 1000 people who died during Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia

PTC Web Desk: A diplomat in Saudi Arabia said on Wednesday that 68 Indian nationals died during this year's Hajj pilgrimage, which was hit by high temperatures, bringing the total to more than 1000.

"We have confirmed around 68 dead... Some are because of natural causes and we had many old-age pilgrims. And some are due to the weather conditions, that's what we assume," the Saudi diplomat said. The new toll comes after two Arab diplomats told AFP on Tuesday that 550 people had died during the hajj, one of Islam's five pillars that all Muslims with the means must perform at least once.

According to Arab diplomats, the figure included 323 Egyptians and 60 Jordanians, with one specifying that nearly all of the Egyptians died "because of heat." Indonesia, Iran, Senegal, Tunisia, and Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region have all confirmed fatalities, though authorities have often not specified the cause.

According to AFP, there have been 645 reported deaths. Last year, more than 200 pilgrims were reported dead, the majority of whom were from Indonesia. Saudi Arabia has not provided information on fatalities, but it did report over 2,700 cases of "heat exhaustion" on Sunday alone. The diplomat who confirmed the Indian fatalities stated that some Indian pilgrims were also missing, but he declined to provide an exact number.

"This happens every year... We can't say that it is abnormally high this year," he stated, adding "It's somewhat

similar to last year but we will know more in the coming days."