This year’s Hajj was held in sweltering heat, and for those serving pilgrims there was little relief

By LUJAIN JO
Associated Press

MINA, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of Muslim pilgrims have walked in the footsteps of the prophets beneath a sweltering sun as contracted cleaners in lime-green jumpsuits held out matching plastic bags to collect their empty water bottles. It takes tens of thousands of cleaners, security personnel, medics and others to make the annual Hajj pilgrimage possible for 1.8 million faithful from around the world. The Hajj concludes on Friday, after which the workers will begin a massive, weeklong cleanup effort. It’s a much-needed source of income for the cleaners, who are migrant workers. But this year it was particularly trying, as temperatures regularly hovered around 45 degrees Celsius, which is about 113 degrees Farhrenheit.