RIYADH — The deaths of 1,300 pilgrims during the Hajj in Saudi Arabia last year underscored the urgent need to mitigate dangers posed by extreme heat, with crowd management an essential first step, analysts said.
Temperatures soared to 51.8 degrees Celsius in the holy city of Mecca last June as 1.8 million worshippers took part in the annual rites, one of the five pillars of Islam.
