Egypt’s Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouli said that a working cell was formed to follow up on and manage the crisis of deaths among Egyptian Hajj pilgrims in accordance with relevant directives from President Abdel Fattah El Sisi.
The crisis cell is composed of officials from the ministries and authorities concerned, the prime minister said, noting that one of its tasks shall be to provide support and assistance to families of the deceased pilgrims, as well as to study the reasons for what has happened and work on preventing its repetition.
Madbouli pointed out that an investigation will be opened into the arrangement of Hajj trips for the dead pilgrims by companies in an unofficial way and outside the regulatory framework, while not providing them with necessary logistical services.
Decisive decisions will be taken and the most severe penalties will be imposed in this regard, the prime minister stressed.
PM Madbouli said there is continued communication with the Saudi officials and the official Hajj delegation to inquire after the pilgrims registered in the unified Egyptian Hajj portal as well as to provide medical and logistical support to all Egyptian pilgrims whether registered in the Hajj portal or unregistered.
On Tuesday, Egypt’s Tourism Hajj Mission reported that it located 142 lost Egyptian pilgrims who had gone missing while performing Hajj rituals in Saudi Arabia and returned them to their residences.
A day earlier, the Hajj mission confirmed that at least eight Egyptian tourist pilgrims passed away during their Hajj pilgrimage at the holy sites of Mina and Arafat.
The overall death toll from the hajj 2024 season exceeded 1,000, the latest AFP tally said on Thursday, more than half of them unregistered worshippers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia.
The number of Egyptian pilgrims reached 56,000 this year.
More than 1.83 million Muslims performed Hajj in 2024, slightly less than the 2023 figure of 1.84 million, according to Saudi officials.
President Sisi directed the task force to immediately coordinate with Saudi authorities to facilitate the repatriation of the deceased pilgrims’ bodies and to provide all necessary assistance in this matter, according to a presidential statement released on Thursday.
“The presidency extends its deepest condolences and sympathy to the families of the victims, affirming the government’s commitment to offering the necessary support during this sorrowful event,” read the statement.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had dispatched field consular teams to Mecca and the holy sites to search for the missing Egyptian pilgrims.
These consular teams were conducting field visits to hospitals to gather data on Egyptian pilgrims admitted for treatment or passed away and then crosschecking this information against the reports for missing pilgrims filed by their families.
A consular task force has been assigned to be present around the clock at East Arafat Hospital and Al-Muaissem Medical Centre in Mecca, the ministry added.
The foreign ministry noted that coordination has been underway with Saudi authorities and the official Egyptian Hajj mission in this regard.
