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Pilgrims rushed on Thursday to wrap up their rituals for the Haj and headed to Mecca as the world’s largest annual pilgrimage was hit by a storm that exacerbated congestion.

The pilgrims, who had completed the symbolic ritual of stoning the devil at Mina valley, descended on the Saudi holy city to perform the farewell circumambulation seven times around the Kaaba, at the Grand Mosque.

A tide of humans covered King Abdul Aziz boulevard which links the stoning site in Mina with the Al-Haram Al-Sherif sacred site in Makkah.

The rain and hail storm hit Mina valley and Makkah as hundreds of thousands of unauthorised pilgrims, who had squatted the pavements during the Haj season, packed and headed to Makkah.

The unexpected tempest came after light rain fell Wednesday evening following a brief storm which blew away the makeshift covers of pilgrims who sneaked into the Muslim holy valley without permits.
 

The Haj season officially ends on Friday, the third Tashreeq day, but pilgrims who are in a rush to conclude their Haj and leave Makkah can do so on the fifth day of the Haj.

Saudi statistics revealed on Tuesday that some 2.8 million pilgrims took part in this year’s Haj, way up from their early estimate of around two million.

A total of 1,799,601 pilgrims from outside Saudi Arabia and 989,798 from inside the country made the Haj this year, making a total of 2,789,399, Saudi statistics revealed.

 
The increase was most likely due to a flood of pilgrims without permits. Authorities on Sunday put the number of permits issued to Saudis and citizens of other Gulf states at just 200,000.

On Monday, the Haj peaked with the assembly of all pilgrims in the plain of Arafat, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have delivered his final sermon, on a hill in the plain known as Mount Arafat, or the Mount of Mercy.

No major incidents have so far been registered, a pay-off for Saudi investments in expanding infrastructure at the sacred sites, mainly at the Jamarat stoning site, which has been expanded into a five-level bridge ensuring a smooth flow of pilgrims.