A member of the Lagos State All Progressives Congress (APC), Ramota Bankole, is among over 1000 people that have died performing the Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
APC spokesman in Lagos, Seye Oladejo, said Thursday, “Her death is most shocking and unfortunate. She was a committed and experienced party leader.”
The chairman of Epe LGA, Surah Animashaun, confirmed Bankole’s death on Thursday.
Ms Animashaun, in a statement, said the deceased was hale and hearty before leaving the country for the Hajj pilgrimage.
She said, “It is with a heavy heart and a deep sense of grief that I received the news of the death of Alhaja Ramota Bankole. It was a sad day indeed as I received the news that she died in the holy land of Mecca while on a holy pilgrimage.”
An Arab diplomat told the AFP news agency that deaths among Egyptians alone had jumped to “at least 600” from more than 300 a day earlier, mostly from the unforgiving heat.
That figure brought the total reported dead so far to 922, according to an AFP tally of figures released by various countries.
The diplomat later added that Egyptian officials in Saudi Arabia had received “1,400 reports of missing pilgrims”, including the 600 dead.
Facebook and other social media networks have been flooded with pictures of the missing and requests for information.
Those searching for news include family and friends of Ghada Mahmoud Ahmed Dawood, an Egyptian pilgrim unaccounted for since Saturday.
“I received a call from her daughter in Egypt begging me to put any post on Facebook that can help track her or find her,” said one family friend based in Saudi Arabia.
“The good news is that until now, we did not find her on the list of the dead people, which gives us hope she is still alive.”
Houria Ahmad Abdallah Sharif, a 70-year-old Egyptian pilgrim, has been missing since Saturday.
After praying on Mount Arafat, she told a friend she wanted to go to a public bathroom to clean her abaya, but she never came back.
