More than 1,000 people died during this year’s Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as the faithful faced extreme high temperatures at Islamic holy sites in the desert kingdom, officials have said.

More than half of the fatalities were people from Egypt, according to two officials in Cairo. Egypt revoked the licences of 16 travel agencies that helped unauthorised pilgrims travel to Saudi Arabia, authorities said.

Saudi Arabia has not commented on the deaths during the pilgrimage, which is required of every able Muslim once in their life.

The Egyptian government announced the death of 31 authorised pilgrims due to chronic diseases during this year’s Hajj, but did not offer an official tally for other pilgrims.

However, a cabinet official said at least 630 other Egyptians died during the pilgrimage, with most reported at the emergency complex in Mecca’s Al-Muaisem area. Confirming the tally, an Egyptian diplomat said most of the dead have been buried in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi authorities cracked down on unauthorised pilgrims, expelling tens of thousands of people. But many, mostly Egyptians, managed to reach holy sites in and around Mecca, some on foot. Unlike authorised pilgrims, they had no hotels to escape from the scorching heat.

In its statement, the government said the 16 travel agencies failed to provide adequate services for pilgrims. It said these agencies illegally facilitated the travel of pilgrims to Saudi Arabia using visas that do not allow holders to travel to Mecca.

The government also said officials from the companies have been referred to the public prosecutor for investigations.

The fatalities also included 165 pilgrims from Indonesia, 98 from India and dozens more from Jordan, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Malaysia, according to an Associated Press tally. Two US pilgrims were also reported dead.

The AP could not independently confirm the causes of death, but some countries like Jordan and Tunisia blamed the soaring heat.

Associated Press journalists saw pilgrims fainting from the scorching heat during the Hajj, especially on the second and third days.

Deaths are not uncommon at the Hajj, which has seen at times more than two million people travel to Saudi Arabia for a five-day pilgrimage. The pilgrimage’s history has also seen deadly stampedes and epidemics.

But this year’s tally was unusually high, suggesting exceptional circumstances.

During the Hajj period, daily high temperatures ranged between 46C and 49C in Mecca and sacred sites in and around the city, according to the Saudi National Centre for Meteorology.

A 2015 stampede in Mina during the Hajj killed more than 2,400 pilgrims, the deadliest incident ever to strike the pilgrimage, according to an AP count. Saudi Arabia has never acknowledged the full toll of the stampede.

A separate crane collapse at Mecca’s Grand Mosque earlier the same year killed 111.

The second-deadliest incident at the Hajj was a 1990 stampede that killed 1,426 people.

The Hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is one of the world’s largest religious gatherings. More than 1.83 million Muslims performed the Hajj in 2024, including more than 1.6 million from 22 countries, and around 222,000 Saudi citizens and residents, according to the Saudi Hajj authorities.

Saudi Arabia has spent billions of dollars on crowd control and safety measures for those attending the annual five-day pilgrimage, but the sheer number of participants makes ensuring their safety difficult.