'Nobody is picking up the dead bodies': Extreme heat sees hajj death toll rise

The death toll from this year's hajj has exceeded 1,000, an AFP tally said on Thursday, more than half of them unregistered worshippers who performed the pilgrimage in extreme heat in Saudi Arabia. The hajj, whose timing is determined by the lunar Islamic calendar, fell again this year during the oven-like Saudi summer. The national meteorological centre reported a high of 51.8 degrees Celsius (125 Fahrenheit) this week at the Grand Mosque in Mecca.