Maryland Couple On ‘Lifelong Dream Trip’ Among Hundreds Who Died During Extreme Heat On Religious Pilgrimage To Mecca

A couple from Maryland died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in  Saudi Arabia amid extreme heat. The deaths of Isatu Tejan Wurie, 65, and Alieu Dausy Wurie, 71 were confirmed by their daughter, Saida Wurie, in an interview with CNN on June 22.

“All we know is that it was natural causes, and someone from the U.S. Embassy advised that the natural causes could have been due to heat > 1,300 people died during the pilgrimage to Mecca amid temperatures that reached 115 degrees last week. Fahd al-Jalajel, a Saudi health minister, stated that about 80 percent of the deaths involved travelers without permits, who walked miles in the oppressive heat.

The pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca is a rite that adult Muslims must make at least once in their life. According to The New York Times, about two million people participate in Hajj each year.

TOPICS:  family

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