At least 550 visitors have died during the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca amid scorching heat.
Three hundred and twenty-three of the dead were Egyptians, most of whom perished owing to heat-related illness, Arab diplomats said.
Stampedes, tent fires and other accidents have caused hundreds of deaths during haj to Saudi Arabia in the past 30 years. The pilgrimage began on Friday.
Saudi state TV said temperatures rose on Monday as high as 125.2F (51.8C) in the shade at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
A 2024 study by the Journal of Travel and Medicine found that rising global temperatures may outpace strategies to deal with the heat. A 2019 study by Geophysical Research Letters said that as temperatures rise in arid Saudi Arabia because of climate change, pilgrims performing haj will face “extreme danger”.