He was among the more than 1,300 pilgrims who died during this year’s Hajj as temperatures in Saudi Arabia reached record levels.
The tragedy, resulting in one of the highest Hajj death tolls in years, has brought attention to the shadowy industry of unauthorized pilgrimage agents.
It is unclear how many unauthorized pilgrims made it to this year’s Hajj, but Saudi news outlet Al Sharq Al Awsat reported Tuesday that 141,000 such pilgrims received free medical treatment during the Hajj season.
Clamping down on unauthorized pilgrimageBefore this year’s Hajj season started, Saudi authorities warned pilgrims against using agents selling unauthorized Hajj packages and had been in contact with other governments in an effort to crack down on the trend.
Authorities had also arrested some illegal agents and issued warnings about penalties for those found to assist unauthorized pilgrims.
Persons:
Cairo CNN —, Mahmoud, Salem, “, Abdelzaher Abdo Salem, Om Waleed, Abdelzaher, Mount Arafat, Salem’s, ” Mahmoud, –, Atef, ”, ” Aglan, Aglan, Al Sharq Al Awsat, Hania Hassan Salama, Salama, Mustafa Mohammed, Ahmad, General Muhammad bin Abdullah Al, Rafiq Maqbool
Organizations:
Cairo CNN, Al, Ma’aisam, Saudi, Egyptian Travel Agents Association, CNN, Hajj, Authorities, Public Security, Hajj Security
Locations:
Cairo, Abdo Salem, Mecca, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Salem, Abdelzaher, Mount, Mina, “, AFP, Saudi, Medina , Saudi Arabia