Maryland couple dies during Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia extreme heat – as their heartbroken daughter reveals horror details from their trip of a lifetime

A Maryland couple died in extreme heat while fulfilling their dream of undertaking the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia – as scorching temperatures during the trek killed thousands of people.

Alieu Dausy Wurie, 71, and Isatu Tejan Wurie, 65, were last heard from on June 15 when the couple told their daughter that they had waited for hours in extreme heat for transportation to take them to Mount Arafat.

After the pilgrimage was over, a group member contacted the family and told them that their parents had died during the journey. Their cause of death was listed as natural causes, including heatstroke.

According to AccuWeatherThe high temperature in Mecca on June 15 was 109 degrees Fahrenheit and ranged from 109 to 113 degrees during the week.

“They saved their whole lives to start this journey and they didn’t receive the right preparation and the right documents, it was just a nightmare as a whole,” their daughter Saida Wurie said. CNN.

Their daughter Saida Wurie (top center), her parents never returned to their hotel and then a group member discovered they died

‘All we know is that it was due to natural causes and someone from the US embassy advised that the natural cause could be due to heat stroke. Based on the temperature, people said it was over 110 degrees,” she said.

“There are millions of people, they have to walk long hours, so it was more than likely heat stroke for both my parents.”

Saida said her parents dreamed of making the pilgrimage and that her mother had recently retired as a charge nurse at Kaiser Permanente in Prince George’s County.

The Wurie’s spent $23,000 on the trip and booked it through a Maryland-registered company, which Saida said did not properly care for her parents.

“To be honest, I don’t think they were well prepared for this trip. There was a group of them, maybe a hundred people, traveling under a certain agency,” Saida said.

The couple had been waiting for transportation when they decided to walk. A member of their group said Alieu Dausy had stopped for a break and the couple was never seen again.

“We received a call from someone in their group who told us that they had been missing for a few days and that they were the only two who had not returned to their hotel after the Hajj ended,” their daughter said.

The Wurie’s spent $23,000 on the trip, but their daughter believes the tour company did not properly care for her parents

It was the couple’s lifelong dream to complete the hajj, and Isatu Tejan Wurie (center right) had recently retired as a charge nurse at Kaiser Permanente in Prince George’s County.

Their cause of death was listed as natural causes, including heatstroke. The high temperature in Mecca on the day they went missing was 109 degrees Fahrenheit

“I tried to track them on the phone a few times, I believe their phones may have died, we tried contacting the US embassy, ​​eventually the same person who informed us they were missing told us that he had gone to some people’s hospitals and they died,” she said

“I was able to confirm with the Consulate General in Saudi Arabia that they had died.”

The family tries to locate the bodies of their parents, but the Consulate General’s office told them that the couple has already been buried.

“We asked the Saudi government to hold the bodies so that we could travel to Saudi Arabia to at least bury them properly. [their] children are present and to identify the bodies,” Saida said. “Unfortunately, they are already buried.”

Democratic Senate candidate Angela Alsobrooks paid tribute to the couple X.

“Haja Isatu Wurie was an incredibly active member of our community. She was involved in several community organizations and had a transformative impact that was felt locally and globally,” Alsobrooks said.

The couple had lived in Bowie for many years, originally from Sierra Leone, and had recently rekindled their relationship after splitting in early 2010, according to The Baltimore Sun.

The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims who have the means must complete it at least once

More than 1,300 people have died during the Hajj this year, mainly due to scorching temperatures above 100 degrees

The Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and all Muslims who have the means must complete it at least once.

More than 1,300 people have died during the hajj this year, the majority of whom were pilgrims walking long distances in the scorching heat in and around the holy city of Mecca, according to Saudi Health Minister Fahd bin Abdurrahman Al-Jaljel.

The Egyptian government announced on Saturday that it will prosecute travel agencies for ‘hajj fraud’ after thousands of deaths.

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly ordered 16 tourism companies stripped of their licenses and referred their managers to the public sector over illegal pilgrimages to Mecca, the cabinet said.

Every year, tens of thousands of pilgrims attempt to perform the Hajj through irregular channels because they cannot afford the often costly procedures for official Hajj visas.

This puts these unofficial pilgrims at risk as they do not have access to the air-conditioned facilities provided by the Saudi authorities along the Hajj route.