{"id":82670,"date":"2024-06-20T16:08:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-20T16:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/deadly-pilgrimage-norwegian-nasir-has-never-experienced-such-heat\/"},"modified":"2024-06-20T16:08:03","modified_gmt":"2024-06-20T16:08:03","slug":"deadly-pilgrimage-norwegian-nasir-has-never-experienced-such-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/deadly-pilgrimage-norwegian-nasir-has-never-experienced-such-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"Deadly pilgrimage – Norwegian Nasir has never experienced such heat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

– I have never experienced such extreme heat in my life, says Nasir Ahmed, about the Muslim holiday he has just taken part in. Extreme temperatures, sometimes over 50 degrees Celsius, are said to have led to over 1,000 people dying during this year’s hajj in Saudi Arabia, according to an AFP tally. The vast majority from heat stroke, the news agency informs. Over 1.8 million Muslims are present in Mecca when the hajj pilgrimage, one of the world’s largest religious gatherings, is to be marked. One of these is city council politician and Ap man, Nasir Ahmed from Oslo. – I have seen several people who have fainted right in front of me, Ahmed, who is still in Mecca, tells news. It was very crowded in Mecca during this year’s hajj. Nasir Ahmed felt it himself. Here during one of the important rituals of the pilgrimage. – Someone I traveled with had to go to hospital The Ministry of Foreign Affairs writes to news that around 50 Norwegians have registered that they are in Saudi Arabia. Ahmed says that he is traveling with a group of around 100 other Norwegians. There is no obligation to register when traveling abroad. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also writes that they have no indications that there will be Norwegians among the dead. According to AFP, a good number of the dead are supposed to be elderly pilgrims from various countries. Most will be from Egypt and Indonesia. – One of the people I’m traveling with had to go to hospital due to exhaustion, but it went just fine. Everyone is in top form now, says Ahmed. According to AFP, several thousand have fainted and had to be helped by health personnel. This is not the Norwegian person who had to have health supervision. Photo: FADEL SENNA \/ AFP The clothes smell burnt To explain the heat, Ahmed tells of a special smell that appeared while he was waiting for his wife outside on the tarmac. – When I stood there. Suddenly my clothes smelled like burning. Just like when you iron clothes, he says. The ruler on Snapchat then showed 43 degrees. When this photo, which Ahmed sent on Snapchat to friends and family, he felt his clothes almost smell of burning. Photo: Private – Your patience will be tested The pilgrimage consists of a series of rituals that hundreds of thousands must complete almost at the same time. The pilgrimage is one of the five important pillars of Islam. – There are enormous crowds. So you get to test your patience. There are tough rituals and you have to go quite far. Nearly 2 million people have gathered in Mecca in the past week. Photo: FADEL SENNA \/ AFP From Friday to Monday last weekend, Ahmed and his entourage lived in a tent out in the desert. Although the tents had air-conditioning, Ahmed experienced something quite special. – We were lying on sleeping mats, but the ground almost boiled. I almost just stayed up all night myself, he says. Ahmed says that despite the heat, he does not regret completing the journey. – I personally have had an absolutely incredible journey. There has been a lot of emotion, effort and patience. I have had to test my patience and will. Several measures were introduced in Mecca this year to prevent heat stroke. Praises the authorities Ahmed believes there are several reasons why so many have died. – The combination of extremely many people, extreme heat and the fact that it piles up makes you exhausted, you get thirsty and you pass out. We in the Norwegian group have therefore kept to ourselves a lot, he says. Large sprinkler systems spray cooling water over the many Muslims. Photo: Rafiq Maqbool \/ AP Although it has been hot and many have struggled, Ahmed is keen to praise the Saudi Arabian authorities. – They are quite strict. The authorities and the volunteers have been good at keeping control. They have given us lots of water, cooled us down. So for many it has gone very well. They have been good at keeping the flow of people going, he says. Saudi Arabian authorities have not commented on the death toll. Published 20.06.2024, at 17.52
\n

\n
ttn-69 <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

– I have never experienced such extreme heat in my life, says Nasir Ahmed, about the Muslim holiday he has just taken part in. Extreme temperatures, sometimes over 50 degrees Celsius, are said to have led to over 1,000 people dying during this year’s hajj in Saudi Arabia, according to an AFP tally. The vast […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4224,3336,2120,20695,221,15128],"class_list":["post-82670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","tag-deadly","tag-experienced","tag-heat","tag-nasir","tag-norwegian","tag-pilgrimage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}