Updated: 2009-11-27 07:58
Muslim pilgrims climb Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat outside the city of Mecca yesterday. The haj is one of the world's biggest displays of mass religious devotion and a duty for Muslims who can perform it. Reuters
MECCA, Saudi Arabia: Officials say at least 77 people have died in Saudi Arabia and 900 were rescued after the heaviest rainfall in years.
A spokesman for the Saudi interior ministry, Brigadier General Mansour al-Turki, said yesterday that none of the casualties were among the millions of pilgrims who are in Saudi Arabia for the haj.
The four-day pilgrimage, which started on Wednesday, draws more than three million people from every corner of the globe. The downpours ceased yesterday but there were fears of more rain to come.
State-run media said Wednesday's deaths were in Jiddah, Rabigh and Mecca. The statement blamed the deaths on flooding and collapsed homes. The port city of Jiddah is the country's main entry point for the pilgrims.
Government official Jassem
al-Yaqout said on Wednesday that two bridges on the motorway to Mecca collapsed. A power outage hit parts of the port city, the state news agency SPA said. Local Saudi newspapers have repeatedly reported on the poor condition of the city's sewage infrastructure.
In central Mecca, pilgrims with umbrellas usually used to protect against the sun walked the ritual path seven times around the Ka'aba, the ancient cube-shaped shrine which Muslims face when they perform their daily prayers.
Some worried they would be unable to spend the night in a tent camp in a valley in Mina as they follow the route Prophet Mohammad took 14 centuries ago.
Stampede, H1N1 alert
Authorities are scrambling to deal with sudden, unexpected downpours that could worsen one of the gathering's perennial dangers: deadly stampedes.
In 2006, all it took was a dropped piece of luggage to trip up a crowd and cause a pileup that killed more than 360 people at one of the holy sites. The rains also could cause flash floods or mudslides in the desert mountains where most of the rites take place.
Saudi Arabia's biggest worry for months ahead of the haj was swine flu. The Saudi government has been working with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to set up clinics and act to stem any outbreak.
Signs at the airport and around the holy sites urge the faithful to cover their faces when they cough, wash their hands and use anti-flu medications that are on hand.
Hassan El Bushra, an epidemiologist in the Cairo office of the World Health Organization, said "there is no evidence" that the rain would worsen the spread of the virus. It is carried in the air, by sneezes, coughs and touch - not waterborne. The rain could even be beneficial if it means crowds are smaller, he said.
So far, four pilgrims have died from H1N1 flu since arriving in Saudi Arabia, and 67 others have been diagnosed with the virus, Saudi Health Minister Abdullah al-Rabeeah told Al-Jazeera.
The crowds, seven people for every square meter, provide a perfect environment for H1N1 flu, said Shahul Ebrahim, a consultant at the haj from the CDC.
"Ideally you should be one meter away from someone to avoid catching the disease," he said.
But most visitors were too caught up in the exhilaration of the spiritual experience to worry. Nigerian pilgrim Omar Issa said he chose not to get a swine flu vaccination.
AP-Reuters
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