The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) informed on Friday that 98 Indian pilgrims died during the Hajj yatra this year. MEA Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, “This year, 1,75,000 Indian pilgrims have visited Hajj so far… and so far we have lost 98 of our citizens.” He said the core Hajj period is from May 9 to July 22.
“These death have happened on account of natural illness, natural causes, chronic illness as also old age. On the day of Arafat, six Indians died and four Indians have died on account of accidents,” Jaiswal said. He added that many died due to heatwave on the day of Arafat.
the MEA spokesperson said 187 Indian had died during Hajj last year.