Erbil, Kurdistan Region - A tragic report has emerged from the Kurdistan Region's Hajj and Umrah Board revealing that 13 Kurdish pilgrims have died and 20 are currently missing in Saudi Arabia. These citizens traveled to the Kingdom on annual visas to perform the Hajj pilgrimage.

Karwan Stuni, spokesperson for the Hajj and Umrah Board, disclosed these alarming numbers to BasNews on Wednesday. He stated that efforts are underway to locate the missing pilgrims, in collaboration with Saudi authorities.

"An agreement has been reached with Saudi Arabia to determine the fate of the missing pilgrims. For this purpose, we call on all those whose relatives are missing in Saudi Arabia to send their full details to our official hotline number," Stuni said, urging families to provide necessary information to aid the search efforts.

This year, a total of 4,685 Kurds from the Kurdistan Region embarked on the Hajj pilgrimage. Among them, 1,460 traveled by land, while the remainder flew to Saudi Arabia. The procedures for the return of these pilgrims to the Kurdistan Region are set to commence early next week.

In a broader context, the death toll among all Hajj pilgrims has climbed to 577, according to Saudi authorities, with Egypt reporting the highest number of casualties at 323.