SAUDI ARABIA RESCHEDULES STONING RITE TO EVENING.

About 3,000 pilgrims were yesterday affected by heat strokes and exhaustion during their journeys to and from the Jamarat for the stoning rite. The development resulted in the death of an unspecified number of affected pilgrims.

Pilgrims from Nigeria and Africa as a whole were the least affected.
It was gathered that Saudi hospitals within the area were busy attending to patients. At the same time, further emergency calls to health officials were overwhelming as some calls could not get immediate responses.
Head of Emergency Unit through the Saudi Ministry of Health, Al-Shalhoub said that the 911 center in the Makkah region had received a total of 78,872 calls on Sunday.

ATN learnt that the sun yesterday had reached a high of 47-48 degrees celsius with a prediction that it would rise in the days ahead.
Most pilgrims whose tents are located at the end of Mina would have to walk 2.8 kilometres, an average of 90-105 minutes to Jamarat.

Meanwhile, the country’s Ministry of Hajj and Umrah has banned going out from 11 am to 4pm for the ritual of throwing pebbles.
This was contained in a memo issued to all heads of Hajj participating Missions in Makkah, on Monday.

Saudi Arabia’s measures towards mitigating the heat strokes include extensive cooling systems, both manual and automated water sprinklers strategically mounted along Jamarat-Mina road. Some pilgrims also use rechargeable and battery-powered neck and handheld fans in their determination to offset the challenging conditions brought by the heat.
There are also portable fans procured by individual pilgrims for personal cooling in crowded areas.