Six Nigerians were said to have died in Mina and Arafat while performing the Hajj rites during the last five days of the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the National Hajj Commission of Nigeria (NAHCON) has disclosed.
It was learnt that the NAHCON’s Head of the Medical Mission, Dr. Usman Galadima, made this known during stakeholders’ meeting in Makkah.
Dr Galadima also disclosed that two Nigerians delivered babies during the Five-Day Hajj rites.
According to him, 93 emergency cases were attended to which include three cases of Chicken Pox.
This year Hajj is about the biggest since the requirement for women to be accompanied by male guardians was dropped in 2021.
The Hajj rituals began days at the Grand Mosque in Makkah. The worshippers spent a night in tents night and spent a day at Mount Arafat, the climax of the Hajj, where the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) delivered his final sermon.
The pilgrims also cast stones at pillars representing the devil in the final days of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
This year’s pilgrimage was the first in three years to be held without coronavirus restrictions and attracted over 1.8 million Muslims from across the world.
The Daily Crucible reports that performing a pilgrimage to Mecca is one of the five pillars of Islam, required of all Muslims at least once in their lives if they are able.
For the pilgrims, it is taken as a deeply spiritual journey that cleanses away sins and affirms the unity of the worldwide Muslim community.
It began with pilgrims circling the Kaaba in Mecca’s Grand Mosque, the cube-shaped structure to which Muslims face during their five daily prayers. The spiritual high point came on Tuesday. That’s when pilgrims flocked to Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Muhammad delivered his final sermon.
During the final phase of the Hajj, pilgrims cast stones at pillars representing the devil, a reenactment of the temptation of the Prophet Ibrahim as related in Muslim traditions.
About 1, 238 pilgrims from Ogun State were part of the over a million pilgrims across the world that performed this year’s pilgrimage.
The Board’s Executive Secretary, Alhaji Salau Dauda, had advice the Ogun pilgrims to be orderly and follow instructions as the Saudi authorities had designed a systematic movement of pilgrims, such that no pilgrim would be allowed to move directly to the Jamaraat on the 10th of Dhul Hija.
Salau said the pilgrims performing this year’s Hajj would move in streets that could barely contain a hundred thousand pilgrims at a time, reminding pilgrims to follow instructions given by the officials.
Salau reiterated the need to strictly follow laid down rules and regulations of Saudi Arabia to prevent stampede.
The Daily Crucible recalled that over two thousand pilgrims including 317 Nigerians lost their lives in 2015 Hajj stampede, therefore, a lot of measures were put in place this year to prevent a repeat.
