The first round of Kurdish Hajj pilgrims is set to arrive back in Erbil on Sunday after what may have been one of the busiest Hajj seasons Saudi Arabia has ever recorded.
 
“The first round of hajj pilgrims that traveled by land are currently en route to Erbil,” spokesperson to the Kurdistan Region’s Hajj and Umra directorate Karwan Stuni told The New Region. “They consist of 1,685 pilgrims and last we spoke to them, they were en route and had arrived at Karbala.”

Stuni added that the first groups of pilgrims who flew to Saudi Arabia for Hajj proceedings are scheduled to return to Erbil and Sulaimani airports tomorrow.
 
“The first group of pilgrims will arrive at 12:30 am to Sulaimani airport, while Erbil airport will welcome its first group at 9:30 am tomorrow morning,” he said.

According to data obtained by The New Region, this year witnessed one of the highest numbers of pilgrims, with 4,685 people traveling through the official government process and over 15,000 people traveling on tourism visas.
 
This year's Hajj pilgrimage has tragically seen a significant number of deaths, including 13 pilgrims from Iraqi Kurdistan, as reported by various national authorities and diplomats to AFP.

Over half of the victims did not possess official pilgrimage permits. The scorching heat emerged as the primary factor contributing to these fatalities.

An unnamed Arab diplomat highlighted that the total death toll includes a significant number of unauthorized pilgrims, with the official figure reported at 1,081. Among them, 13 were from Iraqi Kurdistan.

A car carrying five pilgrims from Sulaimani was involved in an accident on Saturday morning near Ramadi in Anbar, resulting in the death of four of the passengers.



The number of pilgrims this year totals around 1.8 million, with 63 percent coming from non-Arab Asian countries, while Arab pilgrims make up only 22 percent, as announced by the Saudi General Authority for Statistics last Saturday.
 
Addressing the number of deaths, a senior Saudi official told AFP, "The state did not fail, but there was a misjudgment by individuals who did not appreciate the risks."