More than 1,000 hajj pilgrims die in Mecca as temperatures hit high of 51C

4 comments

1. Isn’t there an exception to the requirement to hajj if it’s too dangerous for the pilgrim?

2. What is the normal amount of deaths? That is an unfathomably large event, and people typically make it in their older years.

   So it’s hard to know if this is a high or low number. Zero would be statistically impossible.

3. A graph showing local temperature throughout multiple decades would be interesting.

4. If it had just been a few degrees hotter, then tens of thousands might have died.

   We are getting ever closer to heats that humans cannot survive becoming relatively normal occurrences in the hottest parts of the world. This will eventually create literal dead zones where human habitation is very difficult.