Second Kurdish pilgrim dies in Saudi Arabia

At the request of her family, the press release said, she will be buried in Mecca.

Kurdistan 24 2023/06/21 08:35

Muslim pilgrims perform prayers at the Grand Mosque in the Saudi holy city of Mecca ahead of the Hajj pilgrimage, June 19, 2023. (Photo: Abdel Ghani Bashir/AFP)

Kurdistan Saudi Arabia Hajj 2023 Kurdistan Region Mecca

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – A Kurdish woman died of a stroke in Saudi Arabia's Mecca on early Wednesday, a day after another faith tourist had similarly passed away due to an underlying condition, the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) announced.

Akhtar Ahmed Abdul Kareem, a pilgrim from the Kurdistan Region's Halabja province, died of a stroke in one of Mecca's hospitals, the KRG General Directorate of Hajj and Umrah announced.

The 68-year-old female religious tourist had received medical attention after suffering a stroke, the KRG statement added.

At the request of her family, the press release said, she will be buried in Mecca.

Some families of the pilgrims wish to bury their deceased in the holy land of Mecca and Medinah, the two Saudi cities that millions annually visit to perform Hajj, the Arabic word for pilgrimage.

They are both home to the most sacred sites in the Islamic faith, including the Great Mosque of Mecca.

Another female pilgrim on Sunday was pronounced dead by Saudi medics at King Abdul Aziz Hospital in Mecca after suffering from a heart attack.

The first Kurdish batch of pilgrims began their visit on June 9. More than 4,000 Kurdish visitors are undertaking the religious obligation, which has to be performed once in a lifetime by any able-bodied Muslim. It is one of the five pillars of Islamic belief.

Millions of Muslims visit the holy sites in Makkah and Madinah annually on the eighth day of the Dhu Al Hijjah, the last month of the Islamic calendar.

Approximately 37,000 pilgrims from both Iraq’s Kurdish region and federal provinces are expected to perform the Hajj ritual in 2023.