How this year’s pilgrimage turned fatal

After at least 1,300 people died during this year's hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, witnesses and experts say a combination of scorching temperatures and crowd control problems made the holy event disorienting and dangerous.

At Muslim holy sites in Mecca, temperatures rose as high as 120 degrees Fahrenheit during the annual five-day pilgrimage. Witnesses described people vomiting and fainting in the extreme conditions as they attempted to perform hajj rituals in the city.

"People fell on the streets," said Muhammed Adnan Chishti, a 37-year-old Islam teacher from Hong Kong.

He said street closures near Mina, where pilgrims perform a ritual ...