At least 29 Bangladeshi hajj aspirants have died so far in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Most of the dead were over 60, while four to five of them were aged below that, Muhammad Maqsudur Rahman, councillor (Hajj-Makkah), told The Daily Star over phone yesterday.

Of the 29, 26 were men and three were women.

One of them died in a road accident while another pilgrim died while falling from a hill at a religious site in Makkah, Maqsudur said, adding that most of the elderly died of cardiac arrests, strokes and kidney failures.

He further said Bangladeshi doctors were providing round-the-clock health services to all Bangladeshi hajj aspirants and have the required stock of medicines.

One hundred and forty-five Bangladeshi hajis died in 2018, 162 in 2017 and 191 in 2016, he said. 

Asked, Maqsudur said the elderly hajis, in most cases, died of different ailments and health complications. 

This year, some 1,27,198 pilgrims from Bangladesh are set to perform hajj in the Kingdom.

Around 1.14 lakh Bangladeshi hajj aspirants have so far gone to Saudi Arabia for hajj, which will start on August 10.

Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines began carrying passengers for hajj from July 4.

This year for the first time, the immigration formalities of nearly half of Bangladeshi pilgrims will be completed in Dhaka. Earlier, all immigration formalities for Bangladeshi hajis would have to be completed in Saudi Arabia. 

Biman will operate 365 flights till August 5 to fly hajj aspirants to Saudi Arabia.

Post hajj flights will start on August 17 and will continue till September 15, said a Biman official.