By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Egypt has announced the withdrawal of operating licenses from 16 tourism companies in the country, accusing them of being responsible for the death of its citizens during hajj pilgrimage in Mecca.
A task force unit set up to address the situation has also recommended the prosecution of the 16 companies.
According to the medical and security sources, no fewer than 530 Egyptians died during this year’s hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.
A statement from the task force unit set up on Thursday and headed by Prime Minister, Mostafa Madbouly, however says out of this figure, 31 deaths were confirmed as a result of chronic illness.
The tourism companies have been accused of failure to provide those who lost their lives with services of any kind, including medical, before allowing them to travel, the task force unit stated without naming the companies.
The statement alleged that the firms sent the pilgrims to Saudi with personal visit visas, instead of hajj visas that could grant them access to basic facilities in Mecca during the annual Islamic ritual, including medical services.
“Medical services offered by Saudi authorities to alleviate the hardships of the pilgrimage are not offered to those traveling with a personal visa. The pilgrims who died had to walk through the desert into Mecca to avoid arrest or Deportation”, the statement added.
Egyptian authorities also say those travel agencies did not provide the pilgrims with “appropriate accommodation,” adding that this caused pilgrims’ “exhaustion due to the high temperatures.”
Egyptian authorities also documented 31 deaths among registered Egyptian pilgrims, citing “chronic diseases” as the cause of deaths.
Most of those who died were unregistered, the statement said.
Heritage Times HT reports that hundreds of people from different countries have been reported dead, arising from extreme weather conditions for the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi city, where temperatures have at times exceeded 51 degrees Celsius.
In Tunisia, President Kais Saied has sacked the country’s Religious Affairs Minister Ibrahim Chaibi after the death of 49 Tunisian pilgrims who were performing the Hajj ritual.
Chaibi came under criticism by Tunisian social media activists who accused him of posting his photos while performing the Hajj at a time when the deaths were reported among Tunisian pilgrims.
