The family of an elderly Indonesian man who died during this year’s Hajj is happy he was buried in the holy city of Mecca, his daughter said, as the Southeast Asian nation mourns hundreds of its citizens who lost their lives in extreme heat during the annual Islamic pilgrimage.
More than 1,300 people died on this year’s Hajj with “numerous cases” due to heat stress, according to Saudi Arabian authorities, after more than 1.8 million pilgrims took part despite temperatures soaring to high levels.
Authorities in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, said at least 215 Indonesians are among the dead.
Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Heru Jumartiyah said her 86-year-old father, Ngatijo Wongso Sentono, died on June 17 in his tent in Mina, southeast of Makkah, as he waited for midday prayers.
“He was asleep and had no symptoms of sickness before. Everyone said he was healthy during the Hajj procession,” she said.
Sentono had registered for the Hajj in 2018 and traveled to Makkah with his 83-year-old wife and neighbours from the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta, Jumartiyah said.
“My father was very enthusiastic about going on the Hajj. He wanted to leave immediately,” she said.
Performing Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam, which requires every Muslim who is physically and financially able to make the journey to the holy city of Mecca at least once in his or her life.
According to Islamic belief, to die and be buried in Makkah is considered to be a blessing, with many Muslims traveling in their old age after having saved for many years to make the pilgrimage.
“We are happy that he was buried in Mecca,” Jumartiyah said, adding that she hoped to visit her father’s grave when she eventually makes the pilgrimage.
Jumartiyah said her mother, Pariyem Prawirodinomo, is healthy and due to return to Indonesia on July 7.
Some 241,000 Indonesian pilgrims were scheduled to make the journey to Makkah this year, according to Indonesian officials – the country’s largest ever quota.
According to data from the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs, most of the Indonesians who died on the pilgrimage this year were over age 50.
It is not uncommon for Indonesia to register hundreds of deaths during each year’s Hajj – last year, 773 people died during the pilgrimage, according to records from the ministry.
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