Makkah: The Haj pilgrimage, which got under way in the holy places in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, is one of the world’s largest annual gatherings.
Here are some figures illustrating its scale, according to officials and local media:
- More than 1.4 million pilgrims from abroad are expected to join,in addition to more than 100,000 from within Saudi Arabia.
- The pilgrims will be transported on 18,000 buses, of which 1,696 are new.
- The Saudi Haj and umrah ministry has mobilised some 60,000 staff.
- 158 sickbays along the pilgrimage routes, 25 hospitals and 5,000 hospital beds available.
- Helicopters, 100 ambulances and 51 medical buses on standby.
- 17,000 emergency services personnel deployed.
- 1.5 million containers of water from Makkah’s Zamzam spring to be distributed to pilgrims when the Haj reaches its climax on Sunday.
- 23,000 cleaners to keep the Makkah area tidy.
- Foreign pilgrims spent almost 20 billion riyals ($5.3 billion) during the Haj in 2015.
- At least 2,297 pilgrims died during the 2015 stampede, according to officials from more than 30 countries. Saudi Arabia never updated an initial toll of 769.
